MUAS

Formless made flawless

What the company does
Creates beautiful, yet bold and out-of-the-ordinary ceramic products distributed worldwide.

What designers did
Created a completely new linguistic and visual brand narrative, perfectly representing the casual extravagance, empathy and business pragmatism of its founders.

Verbal Identity

Naming

MUAS 陶芸工房

(English abbreviation)

Manufactory
Utility
Art
Sex

(Rōmaji abbreviation)

Manyufakutorī
Yūtiriti
Āto
Sekkusu

Brand Anthem
Tagline
Supportive Copy

About

MUAS represents the fusion of functional pragmatism and exploratory expressiveness in ceramic art.
Born of the fervent love between architect Kati Romanowska and sound designer Lukas Przygodziński, the project is a deep dive into their restless minds and opulent souls.

Thank-you letter

We made this by hand. Now it’s yours. Please take care of it and yourself. You must be a sensitive soul with a demanding mind to appreciate products like this.
Thank you, muah!

What's interesting

Originally, the founders came up with the name muaSTUDIO, which they later shortened to MUAS. However, they weren't satisfied with it and suggested changing it. We felt, though, that it had hidden potential, and to bring this out, we turned it into an acronym.

What's interesting

Apparently one of the clients, an American woman, is so enchanted with MUAS products that she devoted an entire section of her home to displaying their ceramics. She installed a dedicated glass cabinet that effectively occupies a complete wall specifically for this purpose.

What's interesting

The brand contains an accent of Japanese culture. One of the reasons is the desire to expand into that market. Moreover, one of MUAS's regular clients is a certain Japanese politician.

What's interesting

There's a black ceramic dildo on the store's shelf. But it's not that big.

What's interesting

In the studio, shop and café, one can often come across the owners' two adopted Alsatians. Both have identical, unique grey colouring, as well as heterochromia – one with a grey left eye, the other with a grey right eye. Despite this, the dogs are unrelated.

What's interesting

Ceramics is such a difficult business that most craftspeople make their living from running courses rather than creating objects.

Designer’s insight

“I think the best part was having complete creative freedom with the brand. I could basically do whatever I wanted with it – I could have even scrapped the name entirely, though actually there was something about it I quite liked. So rather than changing it, I decided to build on it instead. I expanded the name's meaning by creating this whole narrative around the founders' world. I wanted to capture their spirit, their personality, their energy – all that unique quality they had - and I managed to work it all into the name by turning it into an acronym.”

— Mariusz Ruciński,
Character & Voice Lead
“Everything went incredibly smoothly – from the very first meeting we had brilliant chemistry with the owners and I immediately got a sense of what they were expecting from us. I knew that Japanese art and culture were huge inspirations for them, so in the brand's visual identity I focused on elements and compositions drawn from Japanese minimalism. To break up the very utilitarian feel of the project, I created a set of icons with very organic forms, inspired by clay. The logo was also created following this same philosophy.”

— Jakub Góra,
Graphic Designer

Some people say things you'd never believe

Summary

What is the company's profile

MUAS is a boutique ceramic atelier (and also a cafe), with products present worldwide, known for beautiful, yet bold and out-of-the-ordinary creations.

What is the extent of tasks

A        Brand Personality (Market Landscape Analysis, Current Brand Analysis, Industry Analysis, Corporate Culture Analysis, Company Analysis, Product/Service Analysis, The Big Idea, Brand Positioning, Brand Strategy, Brand Story, Brand Character).

B        Brand Language (Domain Naming, Slogans/Claims, Key Messaging, Descriptor, Tagline, Brand Tone & Voice, Brand, Brand Statement, Brand Storytelling, Brand Anthem, Brand Sales Writing).

c        Brand Appearance (Brand Visual Identity, Visual Needs Analysis, Brand's Visual Expression Concept, Information Architecture, Functional Design Systems, Brand Art Direction, Logomark, Logotype, Iconography, Brand Visual Architecture, Brand Color Palette, Brand Typography, Brand Graphics & Patterns, Imagery & Photography, Branding Guidelines, Grids, Brand Collateral, Brand Signage, Wayfinding, Packaging Design, Editorial, Stationary, Web & Digital Design, UX/UI Design).

What are the objectives

A        To audit and realign the brand to create a cohesive foundation capable of accommodating the founders' diverse artistic ventures whilst maintaining brand integrity.

B        To develop a name and brand language that aligns with the founders' style and accommodates the studio's diversity potential.

C        To design a visual identity that effectively represents the brand's pragmatic yet experimental nature.

How we achieved the objectives

ad A        The solution to the brand's biggest problem – a positional limbo – was the realization that founders needed a platform for artistic experimentation. The brand required both expandability and coherence, allowing for natural creative and business expression without appearing chaotic or undefined.

ad B        We retained the original name for its suave, cozy, cool vibe, but added depth by transforming it into an acronym representing all the founders' creative interests: Manufacturing, Utility, Art and Sex – encompassing workshops, ceramics, expression and extravagance. This acronym works seamlessly across languages: in Polish (Manufaktura, Użytkowość, Artyzm, Seks) and in Japanese romanized spelling (Manyufakutorī, Yūtiriti, Āto, Sekkusu). This approach established a unified foundation for diverse endeavors. The brand effectively became a gallery hosting various ideas and styles under one cohesive roof. Like a well-managed gallery, the brand's language needed to feel both curated and personal – qualities now evident in the new communication copy.

ad C        Japanese minimalism provided the foundation, aligning with the owners' cultural inspiration while establishing luxury associations. Generous white space and editorial layouts created breathing room around products, transforming presentation from catalog merchandising to gallery curation. The simplified palette used warm greys inspired by clay tones, providing subtle backgrounds that enhanced rather than overshadowed the rich product glazes. Typography reinforced premium positioning through deliberate scale—small, spread-out text in English and Japanese added sophisticated detail without competing with photography. The organic, rounded logo softened stark minimalism while referencing clay forms. Despite simplification, the MUAS letterforms retained distinctiveness, demonstrating the thoughtful reduction characteristic of luxury design. This visual strategy positioned MUAS as a ceramics gallery rather than retail shop, fundamentally shifting customer expectations and justifying premium pricing. The identity successfully communicated that MUAS products exist at the intersection of craft, design, and art—transforming purchases from functional decisions to cultural investments.

Authors

Brand Identity Concept + Positioning
Mariusz Ruciński

Verbal Identity + Copywriting
Mariusz Ruciński

Visual Identity + Art Direction
Jakub Góra

Operational Management
Grzegorz Derlukiewicz, Patrycja Stefaniak

Results

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Strategy
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Verbal Design
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Naming
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Visual Design
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Packaging
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Branding
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