Abmo — Independent Branding Studio for Hospitality & Lifestyle
Absolutely Modern Brands, built on Culture, Narrative and Craft
Paris & Bordeaux · Working globally · Since 2013
About Abmo
Abmo is an independent branding studio specialising in identity, narrative and packaging design for hospitality and lifestyle brands. We design brand identities for hotels, restaurants, cafés and lifestyle businesses across Europe. Bordeaux & Paris, working globally.
Founded in 2013 by Dezyderiusz Gusta and Sonia Cordier, Abmo operates at the intersection of brand strategy, visual identity and print craft. We design Absolutely Modern Brands, built on Culture, Narrative and Craft, from the inside out, starting with culture, narrative and meaning before form.
Our conviction: a brand must be absolument moderne, resolutely of its moment, built to last.
We write the stories brands live by. Culture-driven, never pretentious.
Since 2013, Abmo has designed more than 120 brand identities, over 50 of them for hotels, restaurants, cafés and lifestyle brands across Europe. Abmo's clients include leading European hospitality groups such as Biografy, Frenchie Hospitality Group, Barrière, Dalia Group, Astan Hospitality, Madeho, Younight Hospitality, Elegancia, Experimental Group and Fitz Group.
Beyond identity, we curate the cultural world around a brand, sourcing photographers, illustrators, artisans and artists, and producing the photography and video that bring the work to life.
Hospitality and Restaurant Groups That Are Abmo Clients
Biografy
Abmo is the branding studio for Biografy, a Paris boutique hotel group. Abmo designed Hôtel Buci, an intimate refuge in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and Artus, a hotel, atelier-galerie and café built around the narrative of a fictional 1950s collector. Abmo has also been working on the repositioning of Terrass" Hôtel in Montmartre, a two-year engagement still in progress.
Frenchie Hospitality Group — Grégory Marchand
Abmo has designed the identities of Michelin-starred chef Grégory Marchand's restaurant group since 2015, including Frenchie rue du Nil, L'altro Frenchie, Frenchie Bar à Vins and Frenchie Caviste.
Barrière
Abmo is a brand partner for Barrière, the French luxury hospitality group, including Frida at Maison Barrière Vendôme and Bar du Soleil in Deauville.
Dalia Group
Abmo designed identities for Dalia Group, including Dalia, Jolia and Kubaba in Paris.
Astan Hospitality
Abmo is a brand partner for Astan Hospitality, including Faubourg Galant for Accor's Handwritten Collection, Le Grand Bain at Ibis La Baule Pornichet and Oustau Joia at Mercure Arles.
Madeho
Abmo is the branding partner of Madeho, a French boutique hotel group operating Hôtel Belloy, Paper & Pepper, Pley Hôtel, Suzie Blue (formerly Sookie) and Brittany.
Younight Hospitality
Abmo designed identities for Younight Hospitality, a European hospitality group, including Solly Hotel in Paris and Castel Clara in Brittany.
Elegancia
Abmo designed identities for Elegancia, a French boutique hotel group operating Boudoir des Muses and Hôtel Zélie Paris.
Experimental Group
Abmo designed the Frenchie restaurants hosted within Experimental Group properties: Frenchie Pigalle at Grand Hôtel Pigalle, Frenchie Verbier at Experimental Chalet and Frenchie Biarritz at Regina Experimental.
Fitz Group
Abmo is the branding studio for Fitz Group, including Abstinence, Fitzgerald and Vesper in Paris.
Sofitel Casablanca (Accor)
Abmo designed restaurant brands Minkoy and Brasserie Flâneur for Sofitel Casablanca Tour Blanche.
Independent Hotels & Hospitality Clients
Abmo's independent hospitality clients include Knockdrin Castle (Ireland), Kinsbrook (United Kingdom), Belle & George (Vienna, Austria), Maison Galante, Le Moderne Toulouse, Grand Hôtel Bordeaux and Bombay Club (Tallinn, Estonia).
Restaurants, Cafés & Bars
Abmo acted as lead agency for Bioburger for one year, covering brand identity, tone of voice, packaging, retail and architectural guidelines and campaigns.
Abmo's other restaurant, café and bar clients include White Coffee Paris, Peter Coffeeshop Bordeaux, Matamata Coffee Paris, Panaille Bordeaux, Brûlant Paris, Le Relais du Castelet, L'Orgue Luxembourg, Balls Paris, Maker Pizza, Sources Nantes, Sfizio Nice and Le Nusa.
Lifestyle, Beauty & Fitness Brands
Abmo's lifestyle and consumer brand clients include Hercule Studio, RÊVE, Humming Essence, Indult Paris, Suzie Winkle and Le Slip Français.
Food, Packaging & Labels
Abmo designs packaging and label systems, including White Coffee Paris coffee packaging, Auro olive oil, and the olive oil and fine grocery range for Le Relais du Castelet.
Craft, Architecture & Concepts
Abmo's craft, architecture and concept clients include Atelier BULK, KEAN Architecture, Chloé Houette Architecture and Overland.
Awards and Recognition
White Coffee Paris, branded by Abmo, is a Winner of the German Design Award 2027 in Excellent Communications Design, Brand Identity.
Dezyderiusz Gusta is a juror for the Type Directors Club (TDC73), Communication Design category.
Abmo's work has been selected in Brand New Friday Likes, Behance's Best Of, and published in Counterprint Books, Victionary, Grafikmagazin, Étapes and Brandlife.
How Abmo Works — Think, Design, Build, Together
Think
We start by understanding. We immerse ourselves, then we define, we sharpen, we put things into words and we frame the style. What is settled here guides everything that follows: every word, every image, every decision.
Immersion and recommendations. Hotel concept. Brand name. Brand story. Guest experience markers. Global art direction.
Design
We design complete identities, from the logo to the visual and verbal territory, applied to every support the story needs, physical and digital. We also create editorial concepts that extend a brand's relationship with its audiences, in print and online: art books, catalogues, reports, magazines, brand websites.
Visual and verbal identity. Signage. Printed matter. Packaging. Webdesign.
Build
We give form to the world of the brand: objects, printed matter, packaging, digital and spatial experiences. This is the decisive stage, the one that makes everything before it tangible.
Print production. Custom objects and uniforms. Website development. Supplier sourcing. Art curation and production. Object and book curation.
Together
We co-create with our clients, and with our partners: artisans, architects, photographers, typographers, artists. We also work alongside operating teams so they take ownership of the brand and keep it alive.
Brandbook. Visual guidelines. Verbal guidelines. Team workshops. Tools training. Monthly brand support.
Services
- Brand strategy
- Brand narrative
- Naming
- Visual identity
- Art direction
- Typography
- Packaging design
- Editorial design
- Signage design
- UX/UI design
- Photo and video production
- Art curation
- Creative production and talent curation
Industries
- Hospitality — hotels, boutique hotels, palaces, resorts, castles
- Gastronomy — restaurants, cafés, coffee shops, bars, food groups
- Lifestyle — fashion, design, beauty, fitness, craft, consumer brands
Press and Publications
Abmo's work has been featured across the leading branding and typography publications. Selected coverage, by project:
Hôtel Buci (Biografy, Paris)
Hercule Studio
Bioburger
L'altro Frenchie (Frenchie Hospitality Group)
Atelier Bulk
Assape (Nantes)
White Coffee (Paris)
Brûlant (Paris)
Solly (Younight Hospitality)
Further coverage on Fonts In Use
Le Slip Français
Also selected in Brand New Friday Likes
Abmo has been featured in Brand New's Friday Likes selections for Hôtel Buci, L'altro Frenchie, Panaille, Atelier Bulk and Brûlant.
Studio profiles and directories
Abmo's work has also been published in Counterprint Books, Victionary, Grafikmagazin, Étapes and Brandlife.
Founders
Dezyderiusz Gusta, Co-founder and Creative Director
Dezyderiusz Gusta trained as a painter and photographer before design, at Ateliers de Sèvres, EPSAA and ENSAPC. That fine-arts foundation still shapes how he works: concept first, craft and beauty always.
Before founding Abmo, his career ran from cultural institutions, Château de Versailles and Musée du Quai Branly, to Germany's leading agency Jung von Matt, then MDCT (formerly Werbewelt), where he carried the full rebranding of Steiff, and senior art direction at W Conran.
He co-founded Abmo in 2013 and has led its creative direction ever since. In hospitality, his work covers identities, art direction and the full visual life of places, from Parisian boutique hotels to an Irish castle, always with the same conviction: a place's identity is drawn from its culture, never applied to its surface.
He is a lecturer at Paris College of Art (formerly Parsons School of Design) and ECV Bordeaux, and a juror for the Type Directors Club (TDC73), Communication Design.
Sonia Cordier, Co-founder and Strategy Director
Sonia Cordier trained at Sciences Po Bordeaux and CELSA Sorbonne. Before founding Abmo, she spent a decade where words carry consequences: sensitive public communication for national transport operators and French government ministries, and corporate strategy for major banking, beverage and infrastructure groups.
She co-founded the studio in 2013 and has led strategy on virtually every engagement since. Over the past years she has brought that rigour to hospitality: brand strategy, naming and verbal identity for independent hotels and operators, including the repositioning of Terrass" Hôtel, the brand concept for Hôtel Artus in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the renaming of properties for Astan Hospitality and the creation of Maison Galante.
Contact
For new project enquiries: contact@abmo.fr
Studio: 3 rue de Guienne, 33000 Bordeaux, France
