When we started working with Zephalto in early 2022, the young French company had something almost unbelievable to sell: a six-hour, low-carbon journey to the stratosphere on board a balloon, at 25 kilometres above Earth. They had sixty years of French stratospheric flight expertise behind them through the CNES. They had a poetic founder, Vincent Farret d'Astiès, who imagined travelling to space the way one travels by sailboat. They had a clear ultra-luxury positioning. What they didn't yet have was an identity to match.
The slow ascent.
In a category that is both new and rare, prospects arrive with hesitation. Is it safe? What does six hours, suspended in a capsule above Earth, actually feel like?
We chose to slow everything down. Not to compete on spectacle or speed, but on time itself. True luxury, we argued, is having the time to contemplate. The Orient-Express keeps pace with the landscape; a sailing voyage moves with the rhythm of the wind. Zephalto's six hours in the stratosphere belong to the same lineage — anachronistic on purpose and unhurried.
Journey is the destination.
The visual concept emerged around a single shape: the curve. The curve of the Earth seen from the stratosphere — that Overview Effect astronauts describe with reverence. But also the natural curve of the balloon itself, of the wind that carries it, of the cycle that brings it back down.
We built the identity around this idea. A minimalist, eco-designed site that takes its time. An immersive flight scenario that walks the visitor through each phase of the journey. A photographic language distinctly Zephalto's. A voice with room to breathe.
The identity has travelled further than expected. In November 2024, Vincent took off on Zephalto's first crewed stratospheric flight from Albi. The dream has begun.
