Journal
When Context Enters the Room
Project: Dread
Role: Brand Strategy, Narrative & Creative Direction
When I started working with Dread, the brand had just moved from Rosario to the coast. So had I.
At that stage, we developed an initial manifesto around a simple idea: Al Agua (“To the Water”). A narrative shaped by movement between two territories. From the river to the sea.
Over the following years, I continued to support the brand’s evolution through creative direction, content direction, and campaign planning.
It didn’t take long for the broader context to enter the conversation: the opening of imports, the rise of global fast fashion, and changing consumer habits.
Dread chose to express its position without becoming political.
We decided to move the brand’s communication into Spanish. Even the tagline, Now is the Time, which had been part of the brand identity until then.
We began incorporating explicit references to local industry through garments, graphics, and copywriting. The sun from the Argentine flag, the rosette reinterpreted through a surf lens, and visual narratives that moved beyond the coastline to explore other regions of the country.
En Movimiento (In Motion)
A phrase that brought everything together without contradicting what the brand already was.
Shortly afterwards, Axel sent over a first draft. We had worked together before. He was about to travel to Peru, and we saw an opportunity to create content for Dread along the way.
We shared the manifesto we had just finished and started discussing what to document: landscapes, but also workshops, artisans, and everyday scenes. The things that sustain a culture from within.
As the images started coming in, Peru reflected back many of the conversations we had already been having.
Craftsmanship, community, local production, and the relationship between people and what they make had already become part of the manifesto before they became photographs.
His footage became the foundation of the launch.
I worked with him on the final edit and on recording the manifesto. The finished piece carries its own voice: Axel is the one reading it.
When we first started working together, movement was tied to geography — from the river to the sea.
Over time, that idea found new ways to express itself. New communities, new cultures, and new ways of understanding exploration.
The movement remained the same. What changed was its meaning.
If we are in motion, there is still time.
