I often get asked “Is there a story behind the Ugmonk ampersand? What does it mean?” So I thought it would be fun to share the origin story.
Designers have a certain affinity for the ampersand symbol, that I'm not sure how to explain. It's just a fun character to draw because it can take on so many different forms and shapes.
The Ugmonk ampersand started as a little doodle in my sketchbook back in 2010.
When I was designing our first leather collection, I revisited my original ampersand sketch and decided that I wanted to use it as an accent detail on each of our new leather goods.
I brought my sketch into digital form and played with the curves and negative spaces to refine the overall shape and create an ampersand that felt balanced yet unique.
