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
