Clay & Co
Strategy + Visual Identity + Website + Social Media
3 minute read
Clay & Co is a new pottery studio in Newbury, set up by ceramic artist Cáit Gould. The studio offers workshops, courses and membership options, creating a space for both beginners and experienced potters to explore their creativity.
This was my second time working with Cáit – we previously developed the brand identity for her personal artist practice. With Clay & Co, we set out to create a brand that built on the audience insights from her artist site, while clearly carving out a fresh space in a more competitive local market.
While Cáit had a clear vision and an established local following, this new venture needed to operate at a different scale — with higher costs, more structure, and a faster need for traction.
We faced three core challenges:
Appealing visually to her existing and future audience, while standing out from a sea of similar-looking craft studios.
Building momentum quickly to ensure strong bookings from launch and consistent engagement thereafter.
Creating a brand people could belong to, helping them feel connected, creative, and part of something meaningful.
We began with a brand strategy session, revisiting the two key audience profiles defined for Cáit’s artist identity —
Local women, 45-60, with disposable income, looking for creative, nourishing activities.
Younger professional women, 25-35, balancing work and creativity, often new to the area or in transition.
However, we also uncovered a broader challenge: many local pottery spaces shared the same soft, pastel-toned aesthetic and near-identical messaging. To give Clay & Co a distinctive edge, we positioned it as:
Wholesome, welcoming but refined. A clean, confident creative space offering wellness and personal development through making.
We also shaped the experience around progression: a studio where members could go from curious beginner to confident potter, with support and community along the way.
The identity system we developed is simple, fresh, and grounded. It avoids visual clichés, instead using clean typography, a refined logotype, and playful submarks to evoke both quality and friendliness.
A warm but pared-back colour palette keeps the identity flexible for use across social media, signage, merch and digital marketing. Hand-drawn elements nod to Cáit’s artistic background while keeping the overall system feeling curated, not chaotic.
Key components:
Primary word mark
Icon variations
Submark system for use on merch and packaging
Colour palette, typography and image guidance
Template graphics for social media and newsletter
The design quietly communicates both professionalism and playfulness — in line with Clay & Co’s core message.
To ensure a smooth customer journey, we launched with a simple landing page to capture newsletter sign-ups during the build and fit-out phase. This helped generate early interest and build the audience list before a single pot had been thrown.
The full site followed in time for bookings to open:
Clean, mobile-friendly design
Course and workshop listings with direct booking
Information on memberships, open studio sessions, and community events
Ecommerce set-up for class bundles, merch, and gift vouchers
Blog/news section for studio updates
We built the site to be easy to maintain, with a CMS that lets the team add new events, classes or images without needing ongoing developer input.
To build awareness before launch, we created a 3-phase social content plan:
Pre-Launch
Spotlight posts on the upcoming courses and workshops
Teaser posts using stock photo and video
Community requests - for help with plumbing, electrics, flooring etc.
Calls to action to sign up for the newsletter and early access
Studio Fit-Out
Updates on progress, from receiving keys to kiln delivery
Time-lapses and casual video stories showing the space coming to life
Student work from test sessions and soft trials
Launch
Countdown to booking going live
Studio tour reel
Introduction of class types and key membership benefits
Features on merch (aprons, T-shirts, tote bags) designed to build identity and connection
The tone across all content stayed consistent: warm, slightly playful, and aspirational without ever being intimidating.
The Clay & Co identity balances polish with personality. It reflects the care and craft Cáit brings to her work, and makes her audience feel welcome, inspired, and excited to belong.
More than just a logo, the brand creates a framework for community, creativity, and growth — whether through beautifully designed merch, accessible workshops, or the long-term journey from first coil pot to custom potter’s mark.
By positioning Clay & Co just left of centre in the local craft landscape, we’ve created space for it to stand out, and thrive.