Ventura Foreman is a husband and wife partnership Robert Ventura and Sophie Foreman. Specialising in workwear, all produced in-house in Woolwich South London, their clients include Paul Smith, Matches Fashion, Norman’s Café, Nana O’s and Michelin Star restaurant Trinity in Clapham.

Studio Blackburn has rebranded design and manufacturing studio Ventura Foreman creating an identity which communicates the very fabric of their brand.

The brief gave us a lot of creative freedom but determined that we keep one crucial thing in mind, to create the perception that the brand is ‘clean, simple and familiar but that something is not quite right.’

This feeling of ‘a little bit wrong’ was applied to everything, from the typographic system for the logo to
the way we attach a label. It even aided us with the choice of typeface, ABC Marfa Medium, designed by Dinamo® which was created as a sturdy, utilitarian typeface designed for a high-speed era with no time to lose, and has subtle quirks that felt wrong — but so right — for Ventura Foreman.

Unconventionally the brand identity doesn’t really have a colour palette, it uses paper stocks and colours chosen to pair with the clothes and based on the range of fabrics available. Hits of colour have been added as and when needed for print collateral, postage labels and other branded assets.

Adam Moore
Senior Designer at Studio Blackburn:

“Ventura Foreman are a studio rooted in the local culture of Woolwich LONDON, UK. We decided to celebrate and champion the locality and include the location of the studio within the identity.”

Will Cooper
Midweight Designer at Studio Blackburn:

“Working closely with Ventura Foreman helped us to manufacture a brand that echoes that of the studio’s ethos. All we did, to put it bluntly, was add labour to materials and in this case, a single type style. By stripping the brand back to a single font we unlocked its full potential within a unique typographic system.”

Robert Ventura and Sophie Foreman
Founders at Ventura Foreman:

“Initially we were nervous of how our brief would be received by the wonderful team at Studio Blackburn as it was essentially “can you create an identity for us, without turning our company into a brand”.

Our business has always been about authenticity, the products we make and that we make everything in our own studio. As we’re not trying to portray any other idea of what we are, apart from what it actually is, branding had always come second to us.

Studio Blackburn completely understood this and managed tremendously, to take the DIY aesthetic we had already built, augmenting and elevating it into something with a truly unique and authentic personality.”