Kurppa Hosk marries molten motion with industrial type for alloy manufacturer rebrand

Brand agency Kurppa Hosk has just delivered what it describes as “arguably the most closely watched rebrand in Swedish industrial history.” Sandvik Materials Technology (SMT), a Swedish manufacturer of stainless steels and special alloys, has become Alleima – coinciding with the company being listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange on 31 August. Here at It’s Nice That, we have our eyes on all the design elements Kurppa Hosk has balanced within the new identity, particularly the way it has distilled the metallurgy (the study of metals and alloys) core of the brand across the project.

In a new logo, molten metal motion design features as one of the most clear-cut expressions of this inspiration. However, Kurppa Hosk incorporates Alleima’s work and ethos into numerous nuanced areas throughout. For example, the agency does this by introducing “an engineered, versatile modernist sans-serif typeface that affords a powerful industrial aesthetic”, explains the Kurppa Hosk site. The agency has also created a new colour palette, inspired both by the elemental heat of molten metal and also by the “calm of the surrounding nature”, the site states.

The new name, Alleima, was chosen for its connection to the brand’s product (‘Allei’ is “an old French translation for alloy”; ‘Ma’ nods to the brand’s role as a material manufacturer). As China is a key market for Alleima, a Chinese adaptation of the name and logo was also crucial to the work.

The resulting identity nods both to the “modernist design of history’s industrial giants with cues of a more considered, Scandinavian design sensibility”, the agency states. The new brand also reflects some of the duality of the “raging furnaces” which “fiercely smelt the metal” at Alleima with the “exquisitely intricate appliances” central to its work, states the Kurppa Hosk site.

As the original SMT brand held a 160-year-old heritage, plus multiple touch points and locations worldwide, Kurppa Hosk confirms the work for Alleima “extended far beyond creating a visual identity” – “A complete design system was necessary.” Elja Nordlöf, executive vice president and head of communications at Alleima, reflects this sentiment: “Creating a brand of this scale is an epic undertaking, made possible and truly enjoyable by collaborating with Kurppa Hosk.”