Embassy of the Free Mind, Identity

“The city of Amsterdam is blessed for being a city where it is possible for merchants to be philosophers and for philosophers to be merchants.” Baruch Spinoza.

The Ritman Library, their collection of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica and The House with the Heads (a listed building in the heart of Amsterdam) are inseparably linked with the Netherlands and its history of tolerance, freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Building on this partnership and their combined heritage the Embassy of the Free Mind was established to share their knowledge and open up the space to free thinkers, artists, scientists and merchants.

The identity system for the Embassy was formed around the theologian concept of ‘centre everywhere, circumference nowhere’. The custom made logotypes were designed to reflect the essence of hermetic typography and the visual language was formed from the relationship between patterns in nature and codes in humanity.