Journal
Notes from the studio.
Long-form writing from the Blackdown team - on design, communications and more.
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A Blackdown re-design
Our new website is a reflection of both the South Downs that surround the studio and our creative process - lightweight, technical, rooted in place and inspired by nature.
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Iterative Design I: Brand and Product Design - Regency Tonic
“A child learns by making mistakes, I like to make my own. There is no learning without mistakes, and mature men are those who make them, recognise them and learn from them.”
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The English wine business
The UK wine industry is booming, with over 4,000 hectares (c. 10,000 acres) of vines now in active production across more than a thousand different vineyards. More than 200 wineries are now in operation - together they produced nearly nine million bottles of wine in 2023. Compare this to 2018 when a little over three million bottles were made, and you get an idea of the pace of change.
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Diversifying rural estate revenues
Country estates are unusual and complex enterprises, often comprising of quite different businesses across a variety of sectors. Each estate operates differently, with revenues derived from sources as unique as the landscapes of which the owners are custodians. All have one thing in common in our experience - a desire to diversify their income streams.
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Biodiversity, rewilding and natural capital
A growing number of landowners are looking to nature restoration and rewilding - as both a practical contribution to combatting a changing climate and an innovative way to generate new sources of revenue. From selling biodiversity credits to developers through programmes like Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) in the UK, to spinning-up associated eco-tourism ventures - a bold few estate owners are leading the way, proving that nature restoration can also be great business.