Taft charm bracelet with a rhino, Taft T, music, and basketball charms

The Taft School

FOUR-YEAR CHARM COLLECTION

A charm bracelet collection that reflects the many small places, activities, symbols, and experiences through which students remember life at Taft.

The starting point

Create a charm system broad enough to hold many different Taft experiences.

The collection needed to feel personal to individual students while remaining connected to the school as a whole.

Audience
Current students and future alumni
Need
A collectible, student-relevant expression of school life
What we shaped
Research, student survey, interviews, charm-system design, and development

01 — Inspiration

The places and pursuits students make their own.

Potter’s Pond, Lincoln Lobby, Taft–Hotchkiss Day, the Bingham stage, the Rhino, and the school’s fields and studios formed the starting set. They showed how Taft belonging grows through place, pursuits, and shared routines.

Potter's Pond at The Taft School
Lincoln Lobby at The Taft School

02 — From Story to Form

The many sides of Taft,
gathered together.

Each charm was assigned a clear job: the Rhino for school spirit, Lincoln for a familiar ritual, Potter’s Pond for place, and music, dance, and athletic charms for students’ pursuits. Students could choose the parts of Taft that felt most like their own.

Fine pencil study of Potter's Pond and Taft's brick campus
Place
Fine pencil study of Taft students gathered together
Pursuits
Fine pencil study of Taft's rhino mark
Belonging

04 — In Their Words

Taft metal charm bracelet rendering

From a conversation with a Taftie

I love the charm bracelet concept! I can't wait to wear the sports and club charms and build a bracelet that is truly mine.

Ava Payne ’26Taft student

Student life lives in the details

Turn defining details into keepsakes students make their own.

Let’s chat!