We can’t design brands for other business owners and not practise what we preach.
We spend hours talking to clients about why their brand is no longer working and it felt uncomfortable knowing that we’d secretly reached that point ourselves. We actually made the decision that we needed to rebrand nearly two years ago, but changing our name was a massive stumbling block and really stopped us from getting it done. The whole thing was beyond frustrating.
Bonny and Clyde had always been tied to our wedding stationery business, and whilst it served that side of the biz really well, we stopped designing wedding stationery a long long time ago. Toby felt like it was becoming a bit of a character trope and I lost count of the number of emails that opened with “Hi Bonny.” We’d really outgrown B&C and seven years into running the studio we were becoming more and more disconnected from what we’re all about. Changing the whole brand had to happen but of course there were always those well meaning people who looked confused and questioned if it was really necessary.
After banging our heads against the wall and spending a few ‘early bars’ fretting about whether we were ever going to find a name that meant something to us both, we realised that our connection to the fox was staring us in the face. We’ve had a family of foxes living in our garden since we moved here (my poor plants!) and Toby’s Grandad was an RAF Squadron Leader where the fox appeared as the regiment motif. We also love the idea that the fox represents curiosity, bravery and fearlessness; qualities we see in our clients every single day.
The biggest connection for us though came on the day that Toby’s mum passed away. As the sun rose, Toby sat with her quietly and watched as a beautiful fox appeared in the garden giving him a knowing glance. From that day on, nothing was really the same again and “After The Fox” became one of those pivotal moments.
Years down the line you realise it’s the times like these (where you’re at your most vulnerable and questioning everything) that force you to make the biggest decisions. Many people would say that being ’emotionally charged’ doesn’t make for rational life choices, but the constant reminder of that day gave me a reason to leave a 15 year teaching career that I was struggling to manage, and Toby found the courage he needed to leave a job that he knew just wasn’t for him. Deciding to work together and open our design studio was a massive risk but we had a vision for what we wanted to achieve and we couldn’t let that chance go by.
Trying to explain why we’ve changed our name is difficult because it’s so personal and very much tied together with our twenty five years plus of shared history. If we were asked to sum it up we’d probably struggle to articulate the huge meaning it has, but we don’t think that actually matters. We want people to feel intrigued or curious about how we’ve got here and sometimes you don’t need to spell it out. You can leave people to create their own story.
Soooo… the rebrand is out there and now the hard work really begins. It can feel strange talking about the pride you have in your own business and we’re definitely not the bragging types, but we do believe in what we do. The next few months will be about spreading our message in a way that works for us and continuing to work with those creative spirits who do things their way. As independents, we should all take a minute to pat ourselves on the back for the things we achieve because it isn’t easy and definitely not for the faint of heart!
We’re so lucky to have worked with brilliant people who’ve helped us to get to where we are now, and we’re really excited to see what’s coming next. Thank you again for being here. We couldn’t do it without you.
Hannah and Toby xx
Photography by Emma Ledwith and Karina Lax
