In 1995, Naples became a UNESCO world heritage site for its cultural significance. Within the city are regions rich in history that show its Ancient Greek origins through architecture, monuments and traditions expressed through craft and art.
In the historic centre of the city, dating back to the 16th Century, are the cloisters of the Church of Santa Caterina. Once a beautiful district, it has been neglected for many years and has become a rough area of the city. David de Blasio, Rosa Alba Impronta and a group of friends saw the area and decided to take it on as a restoration project which they named Made In Cloister, injecting life back into the cloister through art, craft, culture and creativity.
Pentagram was asked to help the project by creating its identity. To do this meaningfully, we learnt about the historic area of Naples, ensuring the production of a graphic representation of a place that was deeply rooted in its history. Additionally, we had to ensure that the identity represented the many functions of Made In Cloister which include housing artists in residence, being a platform for artisan craft-making, having a cafe and a gift shop and running exhibitions.
The graphic language of the city was inseparable from its architecture. This realisation became the inspiration for the 'C' symbol created from the form of the actual cloister arch and doorway. Accompanying the symbol, a redrawn stencil alphabet was directly inspired by the plethora of stencil lettering in the streets that surround the ancient cloisters. The colours and textures of the city are woven into the fabric of the identity to form its colour palette.
