HKG Metals, a Singapore-based company with over 30 years of experience in the metalworking industry, has embarked on a new chapter with a complete rebranding of its brand identity. The rebranding was undertaken by design studio House of Adjacent.
“HKG Metals is a subcontractor specializing in custom metal structures, bringing architectural blueprints to life,” explains Jay Liu, founder and art director of House of Adjacent. He worked closely with the founder of HKG Metals to infuse his mastery of materials and attention to detail into the brand identity. “All typographic decisions reflect his sense of balance and precision,” he adds.
The brand’s core concept is ‘Metal Wellness’. It softens the impression of the metalworking industry, which is usually stiff and inexpressive, and reveals the founder’s calm and meticulous personality and his 30 years of expertise. “It was an expression that came out as a joke at first, but it actually captured the values and attitude he pursued,” Liu recalls.
The visual system is based on various typographic experiments based on the founder’s initials, ‘HKG’. Finished with a chrome metal texture, these initials simultaneously capture the reflective, tactile and technical properties of metal. “The company name was ‘HKG Metals’ from the beginning, and when I asked why, they said, ‘It’s simple and intuitive’. We used that limitation as a creative starting point,” says Liu.
The monogram is created using a combination of standard and customized typefaces. The auxiliary typefaces AT Apoc and Sauerkrauto Pro are used to express mechanical precision and emotional restraint at the same time. The typeface composition, inspired by industrial materials such as iron, copper, brass and aluminum, emphasizes the sophistication of each letter while maintaining an overall sense of balance. The chrome finish provides a sense of unity across all media, providing visual consistency and tactile sensation at the same time.
