Opening in summer of 2022, Steel & Stone Gallery on Fogo Island needed a brand that reflected the focus on clay and steel creations.
The most fundamental and common element to the process of these materials is fire. Fire hardens one and softens the other, making the pieces either pliable or a finished form. Inspired by this thinking, Design Holmen set out to explore the ampersand binding the two words together to see if this icon could also represent fire.
The typeface Mostra Nuova provided a great starting point to create a fiery ampersand that worked beautifully with the structure of the S in the typeface. The result was an elegant but playful wordmark that put fire at its core and united the two words: Stone & Steel. It also provided an icon that could be used on its own to represent the gallery.
The playful S in Mostra lent itself to a secondary language of waves and fish, integral to Fogo Island, while an orange pop was supported by a colour palette reflecting the ocean surrounding the island and the cooler tones of steel.
Project Collaborators:
Pauline Payne, Marc Fiset, Fraser Carpenter, Lee Danisch, Dan Perrella, Adam Damiani,