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Atelier Rives

Industry

Knifemaking

Scope

  • Positioning and brand platform
  • Naming and piece numbering system
  • Logotype and maker's punch
  • Type system and palette
  • Case, forge certificate and stationery
  • Brand guidelines and source files

1 · About the project

Atelier Rives forges single pieces. One blade at a time, numbered, signed with a cold-struck maker’s punch. No range, no series, no catalogue: a waiting list, and pieces that leave before they are announced.

Demand was never the problem. The story was. The brand presented itself as a blacksmith: sparks, anvil, leather apron, the full folklore. A vocabulary that sells the character rather than the object, and that caps the price of an exceptional piece at the level of a market stall knife.

2 · The process

The repositioning came down to one shift: stop narrating the gesture, show what it leaves behind. Everything in the identity is then built on impressions rather than drawings.

  • Territory audit: blacksmith folklore identified as the primary competitor, ahead of other knifemakers
  • Brand platform: the trace against the legend, the piece against the range
  • Numbering system: every piece carries its forge number, its year and its tempering temperature
  • Condensed grotesque logotype, maker’s punch built entirely from straight segments, existing only as an impression
  • Wool felt case, uncoated black paper, linen cord, forge certificate, no varnish anywhere

3 · The moodboard

forged · numbered · exact

Atelier Rives brand identity, knifemaking, moodboard 1
Atelier Rives brand identity, knifemaking, moodboard 2
Atelier Rives brand identity, knifemaking, moodboard 3
Atelier Rives brand identity, knifemaking, moodboard 4

Archivo Narrow · capitales condensées

Atelier Rives

IBM Plex Mono · numérotation et mentions

PIECE 014 · FORGE 2026 · TEMPER 280°C · What the gesture leaves behind.

#121110 · Noir de forge
#35322E · Acier bruni
#6F6B65 · Gris cendre
#2E4B6E · Bleu de trempe
#DCD8D1 · Blanc de meule
Atelier Rives brand identity, knifemaking, image 1
Atelier Rives brand identity, knifemaking, image 2
Atelier Rives brand identity, knifemaking, image 3
Atelier Rives brand identity, knifemaking, image 4
Atelier Rives brand identity, knifemaking, image 5
Atelier Rives brand identity, knifemaking, image 6
Atelier Rives brand identity, knifemaking, image 7
Atelier Rives brand identity, knifemaking, image 8
Atelier Rives brand identity, knifemaking, image 9

Design note

Kilvern · Art direction

“A blacksmith who photographs himself becomes a character, and a character sells for less than a piece. I removed the man, the sparks and the anvil. What is left is only what the hammer left behind: an impression, a number, a tempering blue. The legend was the real competitor, not the other knifemakers.”

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