The Challenge
Nicole distributes the Sculpt Nouveau patina range across Australia and New Zealand through her business, Barnes. She'd bought the domain patinas.com.au and wasn't sure what to do with it. A standalone brand? An Instagram account? The risk was building a fourth identity that competed with Barnes and Sculpt Nouveau instead of adding anything.

The Solution
Not a new brand, a resource. A place architects and fabricators go to understand patinas before they specify them, ranking on the search term itself and connecting straight through to Barnes. I built the style guide and parameters for Nicole's in-house team: soft brutalism softened with warmth, an editorial voice closer to a design journal than a hardware catalogue, and a colour system drawn from oxidised copper and verdigris. A site that earns the sale by being useful first.