Cultured. Confident. Confused.
We are three friends from three different corners of the world. Beth is British by way of Cape Town, a creative with a knack for turning ideas into actual things. Ice is Norwegian, studied Chinese, and has lived in three different European cities, which is roughly when the fascination with languages and culture became a full-blown habit. Beth and Ice have now landed in Lisbon, so at least two thirds of the team can argue about pastéis de nata in person. Carol is Taiwanese, lives in Munich, speaks fluent German, and is basically German by now, the passport just hasn't caught up yet. She works in content, so she both writes and designs. Between us we speak a chaotic mix of languages and none of us can agree on how to pronounce anything.
We started this because language is where cultures get playful. Every country has a saying so wonderfully specific it makes perfect sense at home and total nonsense everywhere else. Translate it word for word and it falls apart beautifully. That little falling-apart is a conversation. It is someone leaning in and going "wait, you say WHAT?"
The world feels loud and divided right now. We wanted to make something that pulls the other way. A little more fun in the day, and something people can actually connect over. Because the funny thing about digging into each other's languages is that you start out laughing at how different we all are, and end up realising how alike we are across every border.
Our first collection is built on idioms, translated so literally they stop making sense, printed on things you can wear. It is where we are starting, not where we are stopping. There are other ideas brewing, from the world's best new words to whatever makes us laugh next.
We hope it makes you laugh, starts a conversation, and teaches you something new about someone else's corner of the world.
Welcome to Untied Nations.
Come for the confusion. Stay for the culture.