We met East Fork founders Alex, Connie and John back when they wood-fired traditional pottery in Marshall, NC. With great aspirations for their business, they wanted to create classic, everyday pottery with a more progressive backbone. We worked with as they transitioned from a pottery collective to a beloved ceramic home goods brand.

Two worlds

We encouraged the development of primary and secondary identities to distinguish between the house line and the individual artist’s lines. We shortened their name to East Fork which would represent the house line and we created the East Fork Guild to represent the individual artists’ work. 

Beyond tradition

As early consultants, we were able to dream big with them about the business, the products, the brand experience, and more. A lot of our early conversations were about visuals—how could the pottery, photography and design be carvable.

A vessel

The design system is inspired by their house line of simple silhouettes and clean bright colors. We use subtle nods to their artistic roots— the heavy stencil wordmark has a bit of organic texture, pairing nicely with the clean, openness of Galano Classic.

Mood immortalized

Color is a critical experience within the brand, and the color palette was built to evolve and shift with the moment. Color is used in products and the visual identity to express the change in their experiences, whether it’s some commentary on the state of the world or the flavor of a favorite natural wine—this mood is immortalized in the colorful pots in the shop. 

In honor

We established a gestural illustration style inspired by Alex Matisse’s great grandfather, Henri Matisse. Charcoal line drawings adorn their packaging, website, social and beyond.

Shopping for pottery

We designed and built a custom Shopify website to prioritize product photography and a delightful shopping experience. Small interventions including letters of the logo swap out to pots as your scroll down the page and an icon set for conveying your feelings during purchase bring light to the character of the founders and company.