Gibson Mill

Formerly the Gibson Manufacturing Company, Gibson Mill has served as the fabric of its Concord, North Carolina community since 1899, once a leading producer of American-made bedding, sheets, and towels shipped worldwide. Today, the historic Cannon Mills Company Plant No. 6 stands as one of the region’s largest adaptive reuse projects, a community-driven gathering spot with a locally sourced food hall, craft breweries, shops, and office space. A mill built for manufacturing had to become a destination for community, and the brand needed to honor 125 years of industrial history while signaling, unmistakably, that this was now a place for gathering, discovery, and everyday life.

We grounded the identity in the building itself. The final mark recreates the original three-story Gibson Mill, drawn from a 1920s postcard, paired with the newer weaving room’s iconic clerestory roof. Rendering the building as a modern icon ties the mark directly to the sense of place the mill represents for generations of Concord families. A slab serif typeface, a throwback to the original Cannon Mills logotype, balances the mark. The slate blue comes from a layer of worn paint found on the weaving room poles, and the soft red draws from the brick throughout the property. Every graphic element and hand-drawn illustration nods to the tools, tags, and stamps once found around the mill, and on the sheets and towels it manufactured.

The result is a brand that holds the old and the new in the same hand: sustainable placemaking that treats Gibson Mill’s history as the foundation for its next chapter, not a footnote to it. The system now anchors a gathering place for community, commerce, and new ideas.

SERVICES
Brand Strategy
Branding
Environmental Graphics
Illustration
Merchandise
Signage System
Web Design & Development

COLLABORATORS
Client: Gibson Mill / Southpaw Investors
Design Director & Designer: Rachel Martin
Brand Messaging: Meg Seitz
Architect: d3 Studio
General Contractor: Liles Construction Co
Signage System Fabrication: Rite Lite

SUSTAINABILITY STATS
Adaptive Reuse
Diverse & Inclusive Workplace
Locally Owned & Operated
Small Business Incubator
Sustainable Print Production