collaboration
AB Concrete Design X Mulató Aztékok – Official Band Merch Products Made of Concrete
Our brand plays a prominent role in shaping corporate gifting culture with uniquely developed designer concrete souvenirs, both in terms of unique solutions and branding that matches the corporate identity – corporate image or various packaging solutions. This time, the personal relationships brought a fruitful project in a new arena, because this year we created the new official Christmas merchandise collection of the band Mulató Aztékok, made of concrete.
But who are the Mulató Aztékok?
Starting from Újlipótváros in Budapest, Mulató Aztékok is one of the most prominent contemporary Hungarian hip-hop bands, which has been continuously active on the domestic cultural and music scene since 2014. The members of the band are Mihály Balázsovics “Tink a Mulató Azték“, Ákos Molnár “emekajji” and Sándor Osváth “pHLaT” alias Doktor Monoton.
During their career so far, they have produced several albums, EP releases, singles, and have appeared as contributing artists in dozens of recordings, both together and independently. Authors of popular songs such as Füli Gér, Bartók Béla, or the Odabent which were recorded together with music producer StackOne and rap group called Slow Village. Their music is easy to find and love for ears even beyond their subcultural circles, and it is not for nothing that Hungary’s first electronic formation, Anima Sound System, or the band Benedek Szabó and the Galaxies have worked with them, among others.
Where does the name come from and what is the history of the logo?
The team’s name is the result of a funny misreading. Misi has always been a huge consumer of music, he was interested in different trends and stylistics, from which he wanted to incorporate elements into the sound of his duo, which was just about to be born at the time. For Ákos, he wrote out mp3 CDs of his current favorites and the music influences that affected him. On one of these disks, an album by the Ethiopian vibraphone-keyboard-percussionist Mulatu Astatke was found, which Ákos later referred to as the “Mulató Aztékok”.
The band’s logo was created by graphic designer/typographer Tamás Passa in 2015. Tamás and Misi met in a drawing school at the beginning of the 2000s. Their friendship was based on their similar visual and music interests, as well as their deep passion for hip-hop culture. Tamás followed the birth of the band all the way, and then during a joint vacation, when the band’s first digital EP was already being released, they started brainstorming on the image together.
It was then that the band’s emblem, which has since become official, was born. Since it received very good feedback on social media platforms, the pattern itself became a logo. About two years later, the logo appeared on T-shirts and sweaters, much to the delight of fans.
Last year, the first winter hats of the Mulató Aztékok appeared and ceramic mugs were also produced. In addition to the products produced in small series, Misi also produced a series of paintings for their students. Their music merch fair, combined with the exhibition and audience meeting, was held in December 2021 at the Roots Budapest bar. The event and the products were a huge success, so some ideas for this year’s collection were formulated already then. Since fans are interested in souvenirs that represent unique and artistic values in addition to songs and concert experiences, concrete as a raw material and cooperation with our brand clearly made sense.
Strengthening the Band’s Brand with Well-designed Designer Souvenirs
During the ideation phase of the products, our designer acted in the same way as in the case of company inquiries: she looked at what image elements he could work with and who the target group was, what kind of link connects the customer, in this case the Mulató Aztékok band and the end users of the objects, the fans. Anita also examined how she can make this bond tighter, with which objects the orchestra can be physically present in the fan’s homes and in their everyday lives.
By wearing clothing merch products, fans communicate their taste and commitment to a style trend and subculture, and it is a very positive feedback for band members to see their logo in the crowd at a concert or even walking down the street. In comparison, musicians could see the mugs with logos that were released last year photographed in people’s homes and kitchens on social media platforms, which was a surprising experience for them as well.
A mug is part of the everyday routine, in the intimacy of morning coffees a different kind of bond develops with the object. It is truly an honor to be a part of this, which is why it was a good experience to receive feedback on the afterlife of the objects.
We started to come up with ideas based on these experiences.
The Mulató Aztékok logo and the Balzac Stíl street sign graphic are so iconic and well designed that it was clear to me that I will use them one by one, I will not apply them to a product or some basic form. Encouraged by the success of our Concrete Fanatic magnet set, we came up with the idea that we could also use these elements for a refrigerator magnet function.
Mulato Aztekok
On the one hand, in this way, the graphics can appear one by one, on their own, and on the other hand, like the mugs, we get absolutely ordinary objects that blend nicely into people’s home environment and everyday life. With the use of materials, which are still considered extreme by many, and the precise elaboration of the objects, they convey the same uniqueness and timeless value that the guys’ music and lyrics convey.
-said Anita, our CEO designer
And we go even further with Christmas tree’s decorations!
We smuggle the icon of the band into the holiday preparations and the period of rest at the end of the year. In contrast to the classic factory concrete colors of the magnets, we produced the logo-shaped ornaments in several shades, which are available in sets of four, in single-color white, blue, peach and pink versions, or in mixed-color packages.
You can find fridge magnets and Christmas tree decorations in our webshop, orders placed by December 19th will be delivered before Christmas.
You can personally meet us and the concretes at the Roots Budapest bar / Király utca 77., Budapest, Hungary / at the following events:
- 16th December – Sonny Kraft + Hanzee & Henzee (feat. Tink) + new Aztékok’s merch release and fair
- 17th December – Mulató Aztékok & Roots Christmas
