In the Studio With Seventh
Founder Bukki and creative director Emmanuel tell us about creating the brand beloved for its minimalist aesthetic and distinctive silhouettes
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In the Studio With Seventh
Seventh is the brand beloved for its minimalist aesthetic, elegant colour palette and distinctive silhouettes. Here, founder Bukki and creative director Emmanuel tell us more about creating one of London’s most exciting labels
A recent post on Seventh’s Instagram reads: “Our silhouette is our logo.” The statement epitomises the quiet power of the London-based brand, whose rich, tonal colour palette and distinctive sculptural silhouettes have become a coveted signature. Seventh’s pieces are the definition of essentialism - every element is considered, but the output is effortlessly luxurious. Their loyal fanbase eagerly awaits each new collection, often zooming in on moodboards in the background of studio pictures, or screenshotting Instagram stories to decipher which colours and styles are dropping next. To celebrate their arrival in Liberty’s menswear department, we visited founder Bukki and creative director Emmanuel at Seventh's South London HQ to get a feel for what makes the brand so unique.
Tell us the story of Seventh.
Bukki: In 2012 I started my first brand, Bukki, named after me. I did that for two years, and it was successful, but I didn't have any business knowledge, so I started a Masters in Fashion Entrepreneurship at LCF. Whilst doing that, I was sourcing exclusive 90s and early 2000s vintage and streetwear pieces. I had a store in Camden called 90ZBACK, and then moved to a store in Shoreditch High Street.
In 2019, I started to feel the desire to create product. I knew I had a customer base, I had a store, I had a presence online. We took the 90s and the early 2000s archival vintage that we were selling, and the idea was to strip it down - because I’ve always loved minimalism.
How did you two begin working together?
Bukki: Emmanuel was one of my Instagram muses. I loved his execution - it was very clean, very minimal. So when it came to creating my own product, I reached out to Emmanuel and said, “Look, I'm looking for a creative director. I don't even know what it means but do you do it?”
When did you transition from 90ZBACK to Seventh?
Bukki: It took place from 2019 to 2020. We launched a line of hoodies which were inspired by the archival vintage hoodies that we used to sell. But we stripped it down, took off all the logos, concentrated on the shape, the silhouette, the design and the quality. We were selling them alongside the vintage, and Emmanuel was like, “It’s time to let go of the vintage, let’s just fully focus on the brand.” So we let go of the vintage just before lockdown, and we used the whole of lockdown to rebrand into Seventh. We created the name, the logo, the branding. It was divine timing because we had that silence to think and create.
Where does the name come from?
Bukki: I’m a Christian, so I wake up in the morning, bring up some scriptures and start reading. There’s a specific book that I read, and it speaks about not having any anxiety. There’s a part where it says, “Even on the seventh day, God rested.” 'Seventh day' popped out to me as I was reading it. I remember I called Emmanuel immediately and was like, “Emmanuel, what do you think about Seventh Day?” And he just said…
Emmanuel: Nah, Seventh.
Bukki: And when he said that, I was like, “That’s the name!” From having businesses in the past, I knew that you needed a name that was just one word, and that the letters should look aesthetic.
How do you define Seventh?
Emmanuel: Essentially, Seventh is a personality. Now the language and terminology in the office is, “That’s very Seventh.” So even when we're choosing a colour or a shape, we use the term. It can be applied to so many different things. We say that the light is very Seventh, or that the mood is very Seventh, the sound is very Seventh.
Bukki: Seventh is way more than the clothing. We like to refer to Seventh as a home. Seventh was born just after my mum passed away, so it became a home for me. We like Seventh to be a place where people can come together and feel included. So we always refer to our customers as “bro, sis”. “Welcome home” is on our bio on Instagram. It's a very warm, welcoming environment.
You're known for your incredible colour palette. How do you choose your them?
Emmanuel: I use a vivid mental image of someone crossing the road at Shoreditch High Street. I’m from Birmingham, so coming to London, Shoreditch was the creative spot. That was where you wanted to look good. So when we’re designing a jacket, for example, I’m thinking, “What colour would catch my attention if they were to cross the road at Shoreditch High Street?”
We also have a loyal fan base, so we started doing things on our socials where we'd ask people to either choose or name a colour. That allowed us to see what people want from us from a colour perspective, and it's a way for us to actually connect with and identify our fan base.
Bukki: The fabric, the silhouette and the colour have to be very distinctive in order to identify Seventh, because we don’t use any logos. So it's a way that people can identify a Seventh product, because the colour is so unique. We want to make it known that this black, it's not black. It's ‘night’. It's not just a blue, it's ‘indigo’. It's not just white, it's ‘dove’.
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