E-commerce · Craft · 2026

Vessel

Ceramics fired in small batches, sold in smaller ones.

  • E-commerce
  • Brand identity
  • Art direction

The concept

Vessel is a direct-to-consumer shop for a ceramics studio that releases numbered batches of 40–60 pieces every six weeks. Instead of fighting for always-on inventory, the store is built around the drop: a waitlist, a 48-hour window, and a sold-out archive that markets the next batch. Revenue: product sales plus a small 'seconds' subscription for kiln imperfects.

Who it’s for

Design-conscious home cooks and collectors who follow independent makers on Instagram.

48h
Target sell-through window
6,000+
Waitlist design capacity
×6/yr
Drop cadence the system supports

Brand direction

WarmHonestTactileEditioned

Warm clay minimalism. The palette is taken literally from the studio — unfired clay, cream glaze, one iron-oxide accent. A humanist serif gives product names the feel of museum labels, while generous whitespace lets each glaze read like a photograph. Batch numbers are treated typographically, like edition prints.

Visual identity

Cream Glaze

#f5f0e6

Canvas

Fired Umber

#33261c

Type

Iron Oxide

#b4552d

Accent

Raw Ochre

#d9a566

Warmth

Display type

Vessel

Gambetta — humanist serif with museum-label warmth

Text + system

General Sans — clean counterpoint for UI and cart

Edition numbers set oversized in the serif — 'Nº 34 / 60' is a design element, not metadata.

Voice

Studio-diary honest: talks about kiln temperatures and glaze accidents, never says 'artisanal.'

REF · Warm craft editorial — clay tones, museum-label serif, generous negative space.

Homepage & product interface

Screen 01 · Drop storefront
Drop storefront. Batch Eleven live: scarcity is the layout — counts, numbers, and a 48-hour clock instead of a mega-menu.

Product detail

Screen 02 · Piece page
Piece page. Every piece is a one-off, so the product page reads like a catalogue entry: provenance, firing notes, edition number.

Marketing angle

Turn inventory weakness into the story: 52 pieces is not 'limited stock', it is an edition. The archive of sold-out batches is the ad.

The campaign

"Kiln Day" — a recurring Instagram/email ritual: 24 hours before each drop, the studio publishes unedited kiln-opening footage and the full numbered list. Waitlist subscribers get a 2-hour head start; the sequence converts followers into a compounding first-party list.

Instagram Reels + StoriesEmail waitlistPinterest boards per glazeTwo wholesale partners as social proof

Headline directions

“52 pieces. 48 hours. Then photographs.”

“The kiln decides the collection.”

“Batch Twelve doesn't exist yet. The waitlist does.”

What Limited Labs built

  • 01Brand identity with edition-print numbering system and clay-derived palette
  • 02Drop-based storefront: waitlist, timed release, sold-out archive
  • 03Catalogue-style product pages with provenance and firing notes
  • 04Email + Instagram launch ritual ('Kiln Day') with content templates
  • 05Packaging and shipping-note art direction

Service demonstrated

Software

E-commerce systems — a store engineered around scarcity mechanics and brand storytelling instead of catalogue volume.

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Work 02 of 25

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