Sir Martin Gilbert is a leading historian of the modern world and is known as the official biographer of Sir Winston Churchill. Stepto & Son were tasked with creating a visual identity to accompany Sir Martin's works. One of the most astounding aspects of Sir Martin’s work is that he wrote many of his books by hand. He channelled his dedication and life’s work through the pen that he used. We therefore felt that ‘his pen’ was the most symbolic pictorial mark that we could use for the branding.
With this in mind, we created a beautiful, hand-drawn representation of a fountain pen, modelled on the Lamy and Waterman pens that Sir Martin used. The illustration references historical “bookplate art” where the cross-hatching technique was used widely.