In Between the Lines: The Fluid Hospitality of NUSAÉ, JIRO Hotel, and SUGU Community
Designer: NUSAÉ
Scope: Branding
Client: JIRO Hotel and SUGU Community
Tranquility has grown into one of the most precious currencies of our time. In a world unsettled by turbulence, the longing for stillness — moments to refresh, relax, and reset — has only deepened. For some, the path to calm is only marked by distance, whether it’d be a cottage tucked deep in the mountain or a villa cradled by the ocean’s edge. They allow rest through an escape towards nature, where silence is unbroken. Yet for many, such sanctuaries remain out of reach as they are bound by daily routines that hold them firmly in place, leaving little space to travel, to pause, to truly step away. The question then lingers: where can one turn for quiet? How might healing be made accessible within the restless fabric of the city?
In August 2025, boutique hotel JIRO Hotel and community space SUGU Collective propose one possible answer. Nestled in the heart of Bandung, the hybrid space does not resist its urban surroundings but instead offers ease against the city’s bustle. The meanings of their names pays homage to a Javanese ethos of “making space”, translated through the names of JIRO, derived from the phrase“siji-loro” to form a singular translation of “one-two” and SUGU, as a shortened adaptation of the Javanese word“menyuguhkan” meaning “to service”. Together, JIRO and SUGU offer a philosophy of hospital and service that is rooted in fluidity that accommodates the very rhythm of city life.
To shape this vision, JIRO x SUGU turned to local design studio NUSAÉ, who developed a branding ‘core’ to guide both the internal systems and the outward expression of the space. “We see branding not just as visuals, but as a system that shapes how people feel and move through a space,” notes NUSAÉ’s Design Principal, Andi Rahmat. This framing converges aesthetics, intention, and architecture to evoke an invitation to flow for the visitor, offering a renewed freedom for the visitor. This experience, according to NUSAÉ, is both “distinct yet complementary” to modern life. In JIRO x SUGU, the visitor does not drown in noise, but they are given a ground to lay rest upon and a choice to return – whenever they’re ready.
This philosophy unfolds into a visual system on what NUSAÉ calls a “natural rhythm”, where lines are not deployed as just a brand identity, but becomes a spatial guide to subtly direct visitors across the hotel and community space.
For instance, Jiro’s letterforms echo the rhytms of pause. In its logo, the alphabets do not cohere into a completed narrative, but they are broken and isolated into individual pieces whilst remaining deliberately spatious. They marked this as a cyclical typography, which extends into the hotel’s environmental details, weaving continuity into their flow of design. This visual language is strengthened by their use of a dark, and deep shade of green that disperses across the privacy of its amenities and throughout its public spaces, enveloping visitors in a sense of calm. Here, lines become thresholds: to cross into JIRO to enter a territory designed for rest and renewal.
Yet, those lines extend outward, threading towards SUGU community, where the emphasis shifts from solitude to communion. NUSAÉ signals this shift through a continuous line motif – more fluid, more entangled – gesturing towards the overlapping rhythms of shared activity. Dining, relaxing, socialising and working are all folded into the space’s narrative and followed by a soft gray and white palette that runs through its menu, printed material and signs.
Together, the two identities converse: one offering pause, the other community—two halves of a rhythm that remains whole. In this balance lies the promise of JIRO x SUGU: a place where rest and connection are not opposites, but companions. Here, tranquility is not defined by distance, nor does it demand escape to faraway landscapes. Instead, it becomes something that can be cultivated within the city itself and woven into the patterns of daily life (as a rhythm one can return to). In the quiet corners of JIRO, and in the communal hum of SUGU, visitors are reminded that healing does not always mean leaving; sometimes, it is found in the very spaces we inhabit, when they are designed with intention, fluidity, and care.
