As we know well nowadays, the logo is of capital importance in the evolution of a brand… and this phenomenon is not new!

Since I was little, logos have always fascinated me! Whether it is a car logo or that of a store, I have always wondered how and under what conditions or motivations it was created… and behind each logo that lasts over time, you have to know that there is a story of man (s), with meetings, successes, failures, errors… so detractors, and fanatics to balance all that!

As for my DIDJAMAN logo, it is a story of a mishap, I would say, as well as common sense and love from my friends who are generous in their ideas and protectors in their souls !

I am delighted today because I owe them a great deal of gratitude for the development of my work, as well as their courage for telling me frankly when I was right or wrong !

Besides, those friends are still there. Thanks to my friends Oliv (of the Brewery Nemeto, ZE super french brewery !!!) , Seb Jj, Dj Boz, Gilles Varesano, Gilles Beaucousin, Didier Daligault, Cedric Pla, Kelu Didg and the others.

Here is my logo on this image opposite. This is the first made in solid gold by the talented jeweler setter Jérémy le Grand. Of course the buyers of Didgeridoo DIDJAMAN know this logo well because I started by burning it with a pyrograver from my first instrument productions in 1996.

It was my friend Gilles Varesano (aka RIP), writer, who came to my house one day in that same year of 1996. And who wanted to see me because I had just returned from Australia with a stock of raw didgeridoos. At the time I was 28 years old and I was making a transit in my teenage room at my parents’ house to be able to rebuild my financial health because I was coming back from Australia and I had bet all my money on this manufacturing project. of didgeridoos collected directly in Australia.

Why ? Just like that ! History of sharing with the French what I had just discovered during a wonderful trip that I had done in 1995… and history of continuing this dream that I had lived there, and why not to live from it. elsewhere ?!

And secretly I was hoping for recognition and success… but shhh, I was only 28 ! It’s legitimate I think.

So my friend Gilles rings the bell. I go downstairs to open the door to him and I say to him: “before drinking, I want to show you something, follow me ! ”

We go down to the small workshop room of my father-in-law, then caretaker of a residence, who had lent it to me for in fact a repair workshop while waiting for me to find a real workshop. I open and he discovers the first stock of Raw Australian Eucalyptus Didgeridoos… with this very special smell !

He hallucinates, he blocks… and a big smile appears on his lips and says to me :

• You are sick Raf !!! Only you can do this man… but I’m sure it will work !!!
• Oh good you think so ?
• Of course ! Have you ever seen this elsewhere ?
• Yes, in Australia.
• But you’re phew ! Am I talking to you from here in France man ?!
• Well no !
• Well that’s why it will work ! Go for it buddy !

I close the workshop and they go up to my house, in my “teenage room“, and Gilles sees a Veleda whiteboard against one of the walls behind my bed :

• Is this your whiteboard ?
• Yes !
• azy bring it… we are going to do something…
• What ?
• Give me a felt-tip pen… swarm !
• Okay !
• What’s your last name ? AMATO ? right ?
• Well, until today I think yes…

He roughly notes the initial of my last name which runs up the entire height of the board… a big uppercase “A”, and says :

• You see, I don’t know much about it but I think you should create a logo for yourself, a brand! Because I’m sure if you get into it now, it’ll identify your job and protect yourself if something goes wrong as well.
• Not stupid I admit !
• So imagine at the bottom of A you make a kind of bridge between the spikes…

The next day, I bought a pyrograver and I put my first logo on my 1st didge … and I started the process to make a protection deposit to the french brand protection center calls INPI… welcome to the business friends !

Since that day, a kind of pride in having accomplished something has settled in me. This did not prevent me from taking the VIRGIN MEGASTORE store in the Champs-Elysées to court for having sold the models of my very first album “One didge, One beat” on their shelves ! Fortunately, I had ego-centered my logo on the cover, which allowed me to collect exploitation rights.

Like what my friend Gilles was right… “to protect me” as he had said… Thank you Gilles !

My logo has been compared to all kinds of famous logos, like the one for the fight against AIDS, or Nikki Beach for example. Others thought it was a logo to convey height, really weird but hey. I was also asked if the instrument came from the Native Americans because it represented a tipi to them. It was this reflection that gave me the right argument to verbally explain what my logo is like when someone asks me over the phone, for example.

Conclusion :

In the end, people see what they want to see there… but as long as it inspires, I find it very cool! Since 1996 my logo has not changed, except for the material… always for the better and for the fun of it !

Do not hesitate to leave me a comment, it is always a pleasure to read your impressions, your emotions…

Raphaël Didjaman.