Hochburg’s identity for grill brand Flamid draws on maker’s marks

Flamid is a brand of insulated, modular grill barrels, made by hand in a metal workshop on the Swabian Alb in Germany. Every barrel shares the same core, built around fire, and takes on a different character through its outer shell – black steel, Corten steel that changes with weather and time, or a steel gabion cage that can be filled with stone. Stuttgart-based design studio Hochburg was commissioned to create the name, positioning and identity, with a brief to make visible how precisely each barrel is engineered and how long it is built to last. Founder Tobias Failenschmid had carried the idea of Flamid for years, and the first versions proved that it worked. “Early in the process, it became clear that my strength lies in precise metalwork,” he explains. “But Flamid needed more than a well-made steel object. It needed a broader product perspective.” Hochburg and Mike Oberste-Brink of OMAS Studio worked with him to sharpen the product’s proportions, details and usability, from a functional and an aesthetic point of view. Hochburg developed the name directly from Failenschmid’s surname, condensing it into a compact form that also evokes flame and fire. “The name is rooted in the person behind the product and reflects how closely the object is tied to his vision and craft,” Hochburg’s Founder & Creative Director Fabian Schmutzer tells us. Flamid is made for “people who take cooking outside seriously and do not see fire as decoration,” he adds. “That meant the identity could not begin with generic lifestyle imagery.” Hochburg looked to the product and the way it is made. “We did not want to use craftsmanship as a visual costume,” Schmutzer explains. “We were interested in its logic: a maker’s mark stands for authorship, a technical drawing shows how something works, and a construction detail makes material and function visible.” For the symbol, “we began with the ‘F’ in Flamid,” Schmutzer details. “As we drew and refined its form, one side began to read like a wing. That became the connection between the wordmark and the symbol: both come from the same letter, rather than being two separate ideas placed next to each other.” From there, a bird of prey emerged, constructed on a strict grid. “We wanted the wordmark to have the physical weight of the product,” he continues, which is why it is wide and compact, with punched-out curves. The symbol is embossed into the product’s metal nameplate, where it works like a maker’s stamp. Hochburg developed it in close dialogue with Failenschmid and the workshop, considering its proportions, line weight and negative spaces against the real material and production, so that it embosses clearly and remains legible at a small scale. “That is where the identity stops being a screen-based system and becomes part of the object,” Schmutzer notes. The identity appears across the website, posters, teamwear, vehicles, hangtags and live-cooking applications. Arthur Calame’s Install typeface brings “the right balance of weight and warmth,” Schmutzer explains. “Its broad proportions and rounded forms give the identity a physical presence, while keeping it open enough for a product that is ultimately about bringing people together.” Install is paired with atipo foundry’s monospaced Basier Mono for technical information, specifications and statements. “Its measured rhythm gives the system a more functional voice and sharpens the contrast between the expressive and engineered sides of Flamid,” he adds. Following the idea of the technical drawing, wireframes and technical renderings show the product’s modular structure, including its different shells and configurations, on the website and posters. Ember orange represents heat and fire, deep Alb green represents the landscape around the workshop and paper white adds space and precision. Hochburg handled the art direction and photography itself, shooting Failenschmid, the workshop, the first prototypes and the surrounding Alb on location. The imagery spans steel, welding light, sparks, smoke, food and the landscape at dusk. “It shows what Flamid is made from, where it comes from and what happens around it once the fire is lit,” Schmutzer concludes. Hochburg