Hello there,

Hope you've had a great week.

Over the past 6 months, we've worked to transition LUXTRA into Shaker. Rebranding has evoked so many questions from supportive customers, curious friends and concerned family (hi Mum & Dad) - more on our decision here. We've moved from the first, tentative “yes, I *think* we should re-brand”, to gulping whilst listening to hard truths gleaned by those with experience of it going wrong … and ploughing on!

In today's newsletter I'm sharing a whistle stop tour of the milestones in our rebranding journey. I hope you'll enjoy the read.

Lorna, our Head of Design, joined the team in December 2022. The doubts I've often had about the name “LUXTRA” grew as we watched her new designs elevate our offering. A session with the fabulous Caroline helped us pull together our thinking, as she highlighted the phrase “movers & shakers” from our initial discovery work. Thank you, Caroline - we owe you!

I'll be honest, I was sceptical about the value of working with a brand strategist. I felt like I already knew the brand I wanted to develop. Plus I can be a real cheapskate: I don't like paying for things about which I'm not 10,000% excited. I happily stand corrected. Katy ran workshops with us, asked poignant questions, and teased out key phrases that we've used with abandon ever since. Highly recommended.

We do regular inspiration trips to glean shape, font, colour, texture, and even packaging ideas from the best. This snap was taken during our visit to the Magdalena Abakanowicz exhibition at Tate Modern.

Building on Katy's strategy work, we needed a hand in bringing the brand to life. We worked with Fabrizio Morra and recommend him highly.

Everyone has their opinion on logos. We were after something different (after all, we're about shaking things up) but with longevity. I love so many of the trendy fonts these days, but I worry how they will age. Thank goodness the team dissuaded me from the hand-made logo I was originally very keen on!

I absolutely love this photo. The Shakers will nail-that-shot! We've had a lot of fun with photography recently.

And here we are! Shaker is now live and real. We've shared more details on the transition here, if you're hungry to learn more.