Project description
At the beginning of 2014 Brand Inventions set about creating a revised version of the logo for their parent company, Artifex London. The company required a re-modeling of the existing logo to make it cleaner and sharper, more contemporary in feeling – essentially a tweak to the existing design rather than a complete reworking.
This was largely achieved by replacing the traditional serif script which had served the company well for over ten years with a more modern looking sans-serif. The new typeface is modern, edgier and vaguely scientific in derivation which reflects the technological nature of the stone industry and the fact that Artifex London’s translucent stone products are at the cutting edge of developments within it.
When stone is veneer-cut it becomes translucent. The effect of light passing through stone is often breathtakingly beautiful, even magical. The effect is much like that of a stained glass window, and anyone who has been to Chartres (or some of the other great cathedrals of Western Europe that are famed for their medieval glass), will know how awe inspiring the effect can be. This is at the very heart of what Artifex London does. In romantic terms, it is the magic of stone being awakened from its cold dark slumber by light. What we have endeavored to put across in the new design is something of this magic. We have attempted to convey the company’s passion for stone and the translucent stone materials that they supply.
For Artifex London we designed a series of seven business cards, each one representing an exotic stone – Labradorite, Onice Fantastico, Amethyst, Opal, Malachite, Egyptian Alabaster and Black Agate. The directors chose ‘Labradorite’ and ‘Onice Fantastico’ for their respective cards and these are the choices presented here.
The reverse of the card includes a detail of the stone. On the front of the card the letters of ‘Artifex’ are picked out in the same material. A white silk stock with matte finish was selected to ensure the overall feel of the card remained crisp and contemporary but the ‘stone letters’ and reverse of the card have been given a u.v. spot varnish so that these elements more closely resemble the look and feel of real stone.
The delicate effect of the lettering on the front of the card is intended to resemble champlevé enamel and also Glass Inlaid Marble, the product originated for Artifex London by Ben Galloway in 2000. Like a panel of Italian travertine which has been waterjet cut and then infilled with Venetian glass, so the letters of the design appear to pierce the matrix of the card and, correspondingly, are inlaid with light-emitting stone and glass. It is hoped that the cards will perform in much the same way that actual stone samples do – by providing a representative taste of the products and conveying something of their outstanding beauty and appeal.
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