It’s strange to make such a big change after 3 years of proudly wearing Pat, Phil and Ash, designed by the amazing Miss Bad Child and Mark Glasgow. We love them and we are very proud of our origin story.
It took a long time for us to make this change. It came out of many discussions with our regular attendees and reflections about what we want to show to the rest of the community.
We wanted a logo that pays homage to mainstream martial arts culture while making it our own and still being playful and irreverent. The design process forced us to think hard about our values as a club and we hope they shine through in the final product.
We chose the octopus because Muay Thai is the well known art of 8 limbs!Obviously our octopus is trans and a badass. Cute and deadly. Prey and predator, super smart and one of the only animals documented punching others out of spite (just cos they can).
As our fantastic designer @hoarse_rama pointed out, octopuses camouflage and use their surroundings to their advantage when they are in danger. They understand very well that self defence is so much more than physical dominance.
We hope you like our little friend. And we still love our patron saints, an important part of our history. We remain inspired by their actions:
- Ash Kaur (part of the first EastEnders lesbian Muslim-Sikh couple along with Iqra) standing up to homophobes here at min. 6.20)
- Phil Mitchell confronting Jonny Highway and his ‘disgusting muck-loving faggot’ abuse
- Pat Butcher for being a queer icon and in real life being a lifelong campaigner for LGBTQI+ rights.
Stay posted for updated BD merch!
benderdefenders.com 