Branding as Market-Facing Infrastructure: A Research-through-Design Study of Lalejin Pottery

Abstract

Lalejin, in Iran's Hamedan Province, is a historically significant pottery-producing centre in which substantial craft skill and recognised ceramic heritage coexist with fragmented market presentation, limited maker attribution and weak mechanisms for connecting products to makers and place. This article examines these market-facing conditions through the concept of brand infrastructure, understood as a repeatable system of attribution, information continuity, coordinated presentation and market mediation through which dispersed craft products might remain connected to their makers, origin and buyers. The inquiry was conducted through research through design, structured by Abbing's brand-driven innovation method and informed by field observation, semi-structured interviews and the documented design process. The study developed Lalin, a design proposition comprising a visual identity, a heritage-derived tableware collection for cafés, packaging, digital touchpoints and a proposed launch model. The case advances three analytical propositions. First, in fragmented craft-production contexts, brand infrastructure may be conceptualised as a market-facing connective system rather than merely as decoration or promotion. Second, implementing a brand-driven approach across a dispersed production cluster would require a coordinating actor or arrangement capable of supporting shared functions across independent producers. Third, place-rooted visual identity can translate cultural and material references into contemporary design without reproducing heritage literally. The study does not demonstrate economic impact, market validation or collective maker endorsement. Instead, it documents how a designer-led proposition can make relationships among attribution, information, presentation and market access explicit, while identifying participatory development and implementation as necessary subsequent stages. Keywords: brand infrastructure; brand-driven innovation; ceramics; research through design; place-rooted design; provenance; market mediation