Branding for family trade: a maker's workshop
My father must be some type of contemporary…Leonardo da Vinci. I’ve arrived at this conclusion only recently.
Even if, since childhood I’ve watched him making everything from scratch, I did not realize, that he has such a vast palette of skills. I took everything for granted. Whether we’re talking about plumbing, installations, building electrical panels, welding, crafting custom tools according to his own needs, from making wooden toys to developing metal constructions, from blacksmithing to carpentry, he handcrafted everything by himself. He truly is a master maker of things firstly, and a virtuoso of…improvisation lastly. An electrician by trade, he evolved and gathered just by decades of pure practice and by being self-taught an amazing set of skills in many areas: carpentry, metal work, civil engineering and electrical installations. As proof stands his home workshop, containing hundreds of old tools, objects, mechanical devices and machines which he collected or made according to every project’s requirements. He still makes not only utility objects and furniture, which we need around our household, but many machines and mechanical devices for his friends. He even built some years ago, just in a week of hard labor, a wooden and metal waggon for one of his brothers, starting from an old Dacia 1310 chassis and loads of recycled timber. During the last 10 years his passion became so contagious, that I’ve also started myself, to get my mind and hands involved, in a few DIY and interior design/furniture restoration projects. He’s been having this atelier for more than 40 years but never a logo of his own, even though he received many commissions and his reputation as a skillful handyman, grew year after year.
I’ve decided that his passion and legacy deserves a proper image, a distinct package of symbols with custom typography at the core of the visual identity, a set of logos which will reflect his profile, his experience and know-how.
Even if, since childhood I’ve watched him making everything from scratch, I did not realize, that he has such a vast palette of skills. I took everything for granted. Whether we’re talking about plumbing, installations, building electrical panels, welding, crafting custom tools according to his own needs, from making wooden toys to developing metal constructions, from blacksmithing to carpentry, he handcrafted everything by himself. He truly is a master maker of things firstly, and a virtuoso of…improvisation lastly. An electrician by trade, he evolved and gathered just by decades of pure practice and by being self-taught an amazing set of skills in many areas: carpentry, metal work, civil engineering and electrical installations. As proof stands his home workshop, containing hundreds of old tools, objects, mechanical devices and machines which he collected or made according to every project’s requirements. He still makes not only utility objects and furniture, which we need around our household, but many machines and mechanical devices for his friends. He even built some years ago, just in a week of hard labor, a wooden and metal waggon for one of his brothers, starting from an old Dacia 1310 chassis and loads of recycled timber. During the last 10 years his passion became so contagious, that I’ve also started myself, to get my mind and hands involved, in a few DIY and interior design/furniture restoration projects. He’s been having this atelier for more than 40 years but never a logo of his own, even though he received many commissions and his reputation as a skillful handyman, grew year after year.
I’ve decided that his passion and legacy deserves a proper image, a distinct package of symbols with custom typography at the core of the visual identity, a set of logos which will reflect his profile, his experience and know-how.
Here is my branding project for my father’s workshop : father’s Teodor Lupou lifelong workshop – Atelier Lupou. Alongside I’ve created a monogram for myself to use it as a tag, on different personal handcrafted projects. "Bold, sharp and rugged" – was the theme I had in mind. The logos were conceived to be easily reproduced by stencil or by a branding Iron . The process is still in implementation and development.
