Fable&Co. gives lignin pioneer Nova Biochem its first real identity

Lignin is the polymer that gives wood and other plant matter much of its structure. In the pulp and paper industries, it’s separated out as a byproduct, with most of it sent for incineration. Nova Biochem treats that waste stream as a feedstock instead, converting lignin into high-value circular chemicals that stand in for the ones drawn from crude oil, across packaging, adhesives, coatings, inks and varnishes. When the company reached the stage where its science needed a story to carry it into rooms with investors and industrial partners, it turned to UK-based design agency Fable&Co. There was little to build on, as Nova Biochem had never been through a formal branding process. As a bootstrapped deep-tech start-up, it had poured its energy into the technology, the fundraising and the validation. “The existing logo was a placeholder, and beyond LinkedIn, there was effectively no wider web presence,” explains CEO Alexander Novitskiy. The business had moved well past the identity that represented it, having secured investment, proven the technology and formed industry partnerships, so Fable&Co. began from the ground up with the positioning, the identity, the messaging framework and the website. The strategy resolved to a single word: ‘Matter.’ It reads two ways at once, representing the literal world of materials as well as the broader idea of doing work that carries weight. “It was one of those ideas that felt instantly clear, memorable and impossible to ignore,” Ross Davison, Creative Director at Fable&Co., tells us. They arrived there after testing a range of strategic territories, some leaning into future science, others into precision and performance. ‘Matter’ connects to both sides of Nova Biochem: the chemistry and the transformation on one hand, the long-term significance on the other.