What is branding?

Perhaps the real story, by Base Design.

4000 years ago, Arnør produced the greatest cow meat in all of Scandinavia. Knut, his best client, used to say, “Well Arnør, this is the best cow I have ever eaten, a gift to all mankind.” If only mankind knew… This is why Arnør started marking his difference directly on the right cheek of his product, with a piece of burning wood. Incidentally, the word ‘burn’ translates in Old Norse to ‘brandr’. One could say that this was the origin of branding.

A little later, far south in ancient Greece, potters and masons branded their work, and we can still make out many of their names on the pots, e.g., “Exekias made me.” It became a mark of quality, and the best potters were sought out all across the Mediterranean. Some years later, in the Medieval period, watermarks were similarly used to differentiate and distinguish products and property.

Although the following millennia brought a lot of changes to the world of branding, we at Base try to keep things simple.

So if you need your cow to be marked or your pottery to go noticed, our number is on the back of this silex.

(This piece was co-written with fellow Basers Emily Daly & Gaston Lafond)