Cable factory

Where people and the new meet

Cable Factory

Contributions

Brand Strategy, Brand Identity, Brand Marketing, Motion Design

Awards

ADCE Awards, 2x Silver, 2021
Dieline Awards Silver, 2021
Vuoden Huiput, 2x Silver, 2020
TDC Winner, 2020

Industry

Arts & Culture, Real Estate, Workplace

Cable Factory had identified a big opportunity—to reshape art & culture’s elite image. They wanted to encourage visitors from near and far, from every background, to visit their Helsinki cultural centre and celebrate artistic expression—one brushstroke, musical note and dance move at a time.

Building on the work of popular street artist Thierry Noir, we created an accessible, welcoming brand with movement and meaning that also echoes the name of the space, all brought together with a versatile tagline: where people and the new meet.

Cable Factory is Finland’s biggest cultural centre. This former cable factory welcomes over a million visitors every year to experience dance, art, music and beyond.

The problem? It was seen by many as a place reserved for the artistic elite.

Our client had big ambitions. A chance to break down cultural barriers and let the world know that this exciting hub of creativity was for everyone, everywhere.

To shift perceptions, they needed an identity that truly represents the buzz and movement of a creative treasure trove.

 

For a start, Cable Factory needed a tagline that enabled them to constantly reinvent themselves, as fast as the different forms of creativity and art would appear.

Where people and the new meet. It’s where a bassist dances aikido. It’s where jazz juggles inspiration. And it’s where a slogan keeps reinventing itself. A dynamic solution with infinite variations.

This 56,000m2 space is a place where cultures converge. Art intertwines. Boundaries blur. So our brand had to make one thing crystal clear—Cable Factory is anything but elitist. Our dynamic logo needed movement and motion. All perfectly in sync with the name itself—the thread that ties everything together.

Our visual identity is inspired by an iconic mural that’s graced the walls of The Cable Factory since 1994: Let Me Be Your Mental Dentist by Thierry Noir, the original Berlin Wall artist and a forerunner of modern street art.

Through repeating, mutating and combining familiar shapes and colours, the identity applications produce limitless new takes on the original artwork.

 

 

Expression through movement inside Cable Factory

Expressing a creative state of mind

Did you know..? The iconic building was originally designed by famous Finnish industrial architect Wäinö Gustaf Palmqvist, and built for Suomen Kaapelitehdas Oy as a cable factory in 1939–1954, hence the name. At the time, it was the largest building in Finland.

In 1966 Suomen Kumitehdas Oy, Nokia Oy and Suomen Kaapelitehdas were merged to form Oy Nokia Ab, producing cables and developing mobile phone technology at the Cable Factory until operation ended in 1987. Soon after, the former factory was transformed into a cultural center filled with various private and public organisations that organise large and small events, concerts, exhibitions, fairs and festivals. In addition, various artist studios enliven the old factory milieu.

 

 

“At Cable Factory, we were super happy with our new logo as well as with the new brand identity that BOND created. From the very start, we had the feeling that BOND understood what we were looking for and we were very impressed how they managed to convert our thoughts into creative designs.”

Kai Huotari

Managing Director, Cable Factory