a fall palette with studio bicyclette
When Bobby and I first started Kitten and the Bear, so much of it was a reflection of ourselves - from our logo to the flavours of jams, from decor of the shop to the look of our social media feeds. However, over the years the KATB aesthetic has matured and somehow it has developed a “brand identity” all its own. Brands, as our friend and branding/visual strategy guru Paige of Studio Bicyclette so aptly describes, is more than a logo, colour palette, and website - it is an experience, with visuals (and in our case flavours) that immerse an audience in an emotional, instinctual journey.
As brands go, Kitten and the Bear developed a personality relatively organically, perhaps due to the fact that it mirrors so closely Bobby and my personal journey. However like any personality, one's mood, preferences and personal style change over time. So, when the weather first started to turn brisk a couple weeks ago, Paige and I commiserated together in the shop - if consistency is so important from a visual branding standpoint, even for such highly curated brands such as ours, what do you do when you feel a shift in what you are personally drawn to? What happens to your brand's visual strategy when your preferences, mood, or style change with the season? Using her brilliantly crafted workmats from her Visual Strategy Masterclass, she led us both down a creative process to build a visual strategy to answer these questions.
The result is some truly glorious imagery in a colour palette not normally found in either the KATB or Studio B brand suites (black side plates!?), but somehow perfectly aligned with our brands’ personas: rich textures, warm hues of brassy golds, deep yellows and mature, dusty pinks, a hint of darkness, and some shadow play, resulting in a moodiness appropriate for the seasonal shift to autumn.
Be sure to head over to her blog for more tips on styling a fall tablescape, and check out our Autumn Collection preserves (including the Ontario Concord Grape, Wild White Crabapple & Spruce, Nectarine & Fresh Thyme, and Cherry, Crabapple & Rosemary pictured here) to create your own harvest table at home! Check back next week as we delve deeper into this creative exercise with the finer details...autumnal jam cocktail recipes!
