12 December, 2022

Supple Studio designs ever-changing identity for furniture maker Luxply

Supple Studio has designed the new visual identity for Bath-based plywood furniture maker Luxply, which features a shape-shifting logo to reflect its use of reclaimed materials and off-cuts for one-off design-led pieces.

Luxply’s methods mean that “no piece of furniture is the same”, says Supple design director Becks Skinner, explaining that the studio aimed to celebrate the “bespoke nature of the products” through Luxply’s visual identity.

According to Supple creative director Jamie Ellul, the idea for the logo emerged early as it was inspired by the “interestingly shaped pieces of wood” and off-cuts around Luxply’s studio. He says the team at Luxply explained the variety of colours and materials they use results in “almost endless combinations and one-off pieces”.

True to the nature of Luxply’s practice, Supple created four versions of each of the six letters in the logo that can be utilised in different combinations. Ellul explains how “creating a set of logos that felt eclectic but still had a typographic balance and harmony” was a challenge for the studio. He likens it to Luxply’s use of “salvaged materials”, explaining that “there is an art to choosing the right combinations” and making the final piece cohesive.

Shapes from the logo are used elsewhere across the identity as “brand patterns, devices to hold words or crop images and alongside photography”, says Ellul. The main colour of the identity, “reflex blue”, is a bright hue that features across the furniture and is its founder James Sale’s favourite colour, according to Ellul. He adds that it “pops really nicely over natural wood”.

Supple applied the visual identity to Luxply’s recyclable tissue paper and recycled (and recyclable) box board packaging. The studio also designed plywood business cards for Luxply, which are “digitally printed on recycled stock”, Ellul says.