Martel is the upholster’s upholster. Their busy, modest factory floor is testament to the quality work carried out there – from a much loved chesterman lounge, Featherstone chairs, a classic B&B sofa and upholstered wall panels for the much revered back bar at Melbourne’s Cookie bar and restaurant can be found waiting for work.

Martel’s identity was determined from it’s most basic form and then realised in complex variations. At its most stripped back form – we determined that Martel was an upper and lowercase identity. We then developed a customised and streamlined san serif typeface.

The project’s work continued with an exploration of a range of techiques and hand finishes used in upholsters’ stitching, pipings and detailing. The new font was then expressed in a wide range of these upholstery techiques. These new lettering expressions were used as single brands or wordmark expressions. We also developed illustrated graphic type based compositions that can be found on Martel’s postcards, business cards, the web, signing and even door handles.

Visit Martel here