Ravel, the story of a name
Names are magical things. Words that start out with one meaning then evolve and take on new life as they travel, grow, are worn and lived in. We all know the mysterious, undeniable magic of names. The way a name becomes a person and the person becomes the name.
A name will always be the doorway into a story.
So, why are we called Ravel, what is the story behind the name?
At the heart of what we do at Ravel is our belief in the power of creative communications to inspire positive, real world change.
Our founding team all met and worked together in Rwanda for Girl Effect building Ni Nyampinga, a national mass media brand created by girls for girls that changed the way a generation saw themselves. Not only did Ni Nyampinga cement our belief in the power of communications for change, but it also informed our approach – one of care and craft, insight and creativity, of the weaving together of diverse and authentic perspectives and expertise. We often say at Ravel that the journey is as important as the destination when it comes to sustainable impact; that how you get there and, importantly, who you get there with matters. These are all things Ni Nyampinga taught us.
The name Ravel speaks to this richness.
Ravel means both something knotty and tangled, and the process of untangling it.
It’s a contronym, a word that has dual and opposite meanings. One can ravel something apart and ravel it back together. For us, this duality has wisdom to it. It reflects the art and the science, creativity and insight, complexity and clarity – the magic and rigour of what we do. There is a humility and a reminder contained in the word ravel, that as we untangle we are never far away from tangling, and that a tangle is always an invitation to learn, innovate and imagine something new. That there are different threads we must explore to get to where we are going.
The final part of the story is how we found the word ravel. The word has its roots in the universal, ancient, women-led practices of weaving and sewing. When we looked around us, Rwanda’s rich weaving tradition represented the craft, care and creativity that we strive for in our work at Ravel. Weaving is at once global and specific to time, place and culture. It is a practice that fosters social cohesion and belonging, where women have traditionally come together to share, learn and create. Through weaving, stories are preserved and passed down generations, connecting the past to the present and future. In this sense the Ravelling concept is inherently human, one that speaks to a powerful creative process and one that has lent us a powerful brand language. It has helped us frame our processes as we seek to understand, to carefully draw out and tease apart the strands of an issue or problem, the intricacies of our audience and their lives, and from this weave together engaging, transformative solutions. And it is also inspiring a visual identity for our brand that communicates in dynamic threads, shapes, texture and colour, bringing to life the interplay of magic and rigour in what we do. But more on that to come….
