Kiln.
Brand system for a ceramics studio — An identity for a ceramics studio that feels handmade and rigorous at once — warm clay, exacting grid.
Overview
Kiln makes quiet, beautiful objects and had a loud, borrowed logo. We built a full identity that matches the work — tactile, precise, unmistakably theirs.
The challenge
Craft brands drift into cliché fast. We needed warmth without the usual rustic costume, and rigour without going cold.
- An identity that feels made by hand
- A system that survives real-world use
- Type and marks that scale to a stamp
- Guidelines the studio can actually follow
Our approach
We drew the marks from the process itself — the wheel, the glaze line, the kiln — then set them on a strict grid.
- A primary mark plus a working set
- A type and colour system with room to breathe
- Physical applications, tested on real objects
- A short, usable set of guidelines
The outcome
Kiln now has a brand as considered as its pots — one that reads as handmade up close and holds together across every surface, from stamp to storefront.
“It looks like it was always ours.”
Under the hood
Design tokens live in Figma, export through Style Dictionary into CSS variables and a typed React kit documented in Storybook; Chromatic gates every visual diff in CI.
- Single token source compiled to web, iOS, print
- Storybook as the contract between design and build
- Chromatic visual regression on every PR
- Versioned brand releases with changelogs
Also considered A static PDF guideline — rejected because brands drift; pipelines don't.