“MONK” File 001: The Spark

"MONK"
May 23
3 min read

What’s up. Bernardo here, founder of “MONK”.

Building this brand has been the coolest and most challenging thing I’ve ever done.

In this space, I’ll share details, processes, behind-the-scenes moments, decisions, mistakes, wins, and everything we’ve been carrying for the past year.

Yeah — “MONK” is already one year old.

So let’s go back to June 2024, where everything started.

"MONK" File 001 — The Spark

It was the birthday of my best friend Marcella’s boyfriend.

This couple barely drinks, but decided to celebrate at an electronic music party. And worse — they showed up dressed like people who actually frequent those kinds of places (which is not the case for them):

sunglasses at night.

The kind of thing people wear when they stay fried until sunrise (also not the case for them).

But the focus here is not this couple’s habits.

The focus is the sunglasses.

Raul, the birthday guy, was wearing a model that literally everyone who saw it complimented.

I already knew those sunglasses. I had even tried buying them from him once before. His response was:

“I’m not selling these. But they’re from China. I’ll send you the link. Like five bucks each. The Chinese guy even customizes them with your name.”

At one point during the party, after seeing at least three random people compliment those Chinese sunglasses, I turned to him and said:

“Raul, we’re gonna start selling these sunglasses.

I’ll create the visual identity, you import them from China, and we build a brand. Success.”

For the rest of the night, we kept talking about the idea, telling people about it, and lying that the pair he was wearing was our prototype (to be fair, they looked cool as hell… but only until you actually held them and realized they felt kinda cheap).

The next day, no hangover could stop my flow.

I opened my computer and started imagining what that new sunglasses brand could become.

At the time, I had just finished reading But Beautiful by Geoff Dyer, a book that romanticizes the stories of some of the greatest geniuses in American jazz.

That universe was still very fresh in my head, and I had become obsessed with two figures: Chet Baker and Thelonious Monk.

Then everything clicked.

The brand’s aesthetic would be pure jazz.

And the name?

A tribute to the most mysterious and innovative figure in the book:

"MONK".

Short. Direct.

And it sounds good in any language.

I spent the entire Sunday building a presentation — logo, visual identity, typography, mockups — and sent it to Raul, my then-new business partner.

There was just one problem.

After looking at everything finished, it became obvious:

the brand was way too good to sell cheap Chinese sunglasses.

For the first time in years working in advertising, I was creating for a brand that would fully reflect my own vision — any tone, any direction, whatever I wanted.

And Raul eventually understood that I would continue alone, following a different path.

Especially after I started creating the t-shirt graphics. Those graphics were what truly brought the brand to life.

“MONK” ended up becoming something deeply personal.

Maybe too personal — to the point where, at times, I can’t even distinguish myself from it.

But that’s for the next File.