A piece of history.

This is a conceptual re-branding exercise for a small archaeological Museum located in Florence, Italy. Museo della Pagliazza, is located in the basement of what is considered to be the oldest tower in Florence. This Museum showcases a historic collection of excavated, fragmented Italian ceramics, from different eras and regions of Italy. Some of these fragments also date back all the way to the Roman era, around first century AD. Other showcases comprise of collections from the middle ages to the Renaissance and post-renaissance periods. The collections from regions such as Montepulciano, specially stand-out amongst the rest due to their large compendiary style dishes, in rich hues of blue, ochre and deep orange, with decorations of animals and human figures. These colours are the inspiration behind the brand palette.

The collections that are in exhibit, have visible cracks and imperfections owing to their age, with a number of broken pieces that appear to have been meticulously put together. The concept of this identity, revolves around these fragmented pieces of ceramic, combined with the location of the museum — in basement of the tower, under the Brunelleschi Hotel, that owns this museum. The main identity comprises of a variable logo system, wherein each unit imitates the shapes of a broken ceramic shard revealing only a part of the name, which appears under a clean straight line that represents the basement. This style further lends itself to the visual language across various communication collateral and signage systems, where the brand colours appear along with small parts of the decorative paintings that adorn the ceramics.