Many local and international brands have been influenced by the strategic input and exceptional design ability of Carmen Lerm from FusionDesign, Cape Town.
Lerm's career started with an honours degree in visual communication from the University of Stellenbosch. European design discipline, the culture and style beckoned and before the ink was dry on her degree certificate, Lerm found herself in Amsterdam and with agency BRS Bremsela Vonk working on accounts like ABN AMRO. Keen to gain as much experience as possible Lerm moved on to Kees Uittenhout where she was first introduced to the need for sustainable design that considers all elements of the environment.
In 1999 Carmen established FusionDesign: Integrated Brand Agency in Cape Town. Expertise areas include Strategy, Research: people, product, services, Ethnographic studies, Communication Strategy, Digital Strategy, Corporate Social Investment Links, Digital Marketing and Web Development, Search Engine Optimisation, Advertising and Promotions, Retail Communication, Internal Staff Communication, Communication Strategy, Branding and Design, Developing unique brands, Logo crafting, Name generation and much more.
FusionDesign achieved a silver at the prestigious Stuttgart International Calendar exhibition, dubbed the Cannes Festival of Art Calendars, out of a total of 1052 calendars.
The judges chose 60 calendars to travel around the world from Germany. The calendars will be on show in Cape Town and Namibia early 2006.
Carmen Lerm, CEO FusionDesign says: "Previously entrants from SA only obtained Bronze status so we are very proud of our achievement. This is the highest a South African company has ever achieved."
The theme of the calendar was Isibindi which is a Xhosa word meaning courage. The concept related back to woman and children who experience ongoing sexual and domestic abuse and the courage they need in order to get up and walk tall.
The project involved creating interesting visuals on woodblocks. Each calendar is a unique print because of the woodcutting and silk screening technique used.
The calendar was created to stimulate the in-house talents at FusionDesign and to raise funds for the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children.
FusionDesign's close experienced team prides themselves in getting the job done!
