Basma in Syriac means spices. The logo is a travel back in time, to my heritage. The story of Jewish and Assyrian merchants coming to trade with Kerala. The earliest accounts and traditions for this trade go back 3000 years to the time of king Shlomo (Solomon) of Israel. Kerala is rich in spices, gold, peacocks and everything precious and exotic, it was a popular destination for sourcing luxury goods. This year marks 1200 years of our emigration to this wonderful land. I felt obligated to create something that reflected our culture, lost language and trade.

Approach

The inspiration for the logo is from the Phoenician ship, which closely resembles a Kerala snake boat. The Phoenician ships were famous even back then for their design and capability – a common choice of vessel for trade.

A Phoenician ship.
Kerala snake boats at Vallam kali.

The shape of the Syriac text was shaped to resemble the vessels that brought us here. The text was handwritten in madenhaya script.