Institute for Creative Repair
Client: Institute for Creative Repair
Period: 2023
Government & policy
Multi-stakeholder partnerships
Arts, culture & heritage
01 — The sneak-peek
Repair you can see
The Institute for Creative Repair is a new Johannesburg think-and-do tank set on repairing people, communities, institutions and cities through arts, heritage and culture. BBA Liminal gave it a visual identity built, fittingly, from repair itself — custom letters made of tape.
02 — The liminal moment
The Institute for Creative Repair is a newly formed 'think and do tank' in Johannesburg, built on a clear conviction: that the current world order is not working, that creativity, disruption and collaboration are necessary, and that demonstration is more powerful than rhetoric.
A new institute with a belief that pointed needs an identity that carries it at a glance. BBA Liminal was tasked with developing a visual identity to convey the Institute's mission and purpose. The threshold was the founding itself — giving a young organisation a face the moment it steps into the world. The deeper task was tone: how to hold 'repair' and 'joy' together, signalling both the seriousness of mending what is broken and the optimism of a place that believes it can be done — without slipping into either grimness or gloss.
03 — The transformation
We made repair visible. We took the idea of creative repair literally and joyfully — drawing on washi tape to craft a series of custom letters made from tape, so the very act of mending is written into the logo.
04 — The craft
Made of mending
Joy and repair held in one mark: custom letters cut and built from washi tape, paired with Plus Jakarta Sans, and carried into a flexible set of applications so a young institute can demonstrate its purpose everywhere it appears.
Social media templates
“We are bringing together the public sectors – the ‘art’ and ‘heritage’ worlds, artists, designers, scholars, philanthropists and traditional healers – to revitalize public spaces for healing and joy.”
- Ngaire Blankenberg, Founding Director
Brand & communications strategy
Typography
Brand identity design
Positioning & narrative
