BB/Saunders creates look for ceramics biennale

Branding and design consultancy BB/Saunders has designed the visual identity of the inaugural British Ceramics Biennale, which launches today in Stoke-on-Trent.

BB/Saunders was appointed to the project following a five-way tender in September. The new identity will be rolled out across all digital and print communications, signage and advertising.

‘Energy’ and ‘heat’ are creative buzzwords for the visual scheme, which aims to inject Britain’s historic centre for ceramics with a fresh burst of enthusiasm and excitement, says BB/Saunders managing director Martin Saunders.

‘Our first impression of Stoke was that it felt a bit tired and jaded, like the energy had gone out of it. Our visual identity aims to give the area a wake-up call, to reawaken the senses and get people interested in the ceramics industry again. It has to have enough strength and impact to lift the biennale into the international arena,’ explains Saunders.

Cultural consultancy A Fine Line is leading the direction and delivery of the biennale. It commissioned BB/Saunders and was itself contracted by Stoke-on-Trent City Council. A Fine Line co-director Jeremy Theophilus believes BB/Saunders’ design really captured the essence of the event.

‘There was a strong resonance between our thinking and its visuals,’ says Theophilus. ‘In BB/Saunders’ pitch it repeatedly used the metaphor of controlled explosions, and we liked that because it linked into the idea of regeneration and revelation. We are revealing to the inhabitants of the UK – and the world – what we have been taking for granted for so long’.

The biennale is the result of the new North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership, which has invested £500 000 in the biennale’s programme of creative events, exhibitions and long-term projects over a period of two years.