Apparently they’re born from drops of steel from London’s 2012 Olympic stadium, and their names are inspired by Much Wenlock in Shropshire and Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire, two towns with Olympic history at their heart – ‘Much Wenlock Games’ predated the modern games, whilst Stoke Mandeville is the birthplace of the Paralympics, for whom ‘Mandeville’ is the new official mascot. Along with his friend ‘Wenlock’, the pair – designed by agency Iris – have already caused much discussion in the design community since they were unveiled on Wednesday evening….. not quite as much, it has to be said, as the infamous Wolff Olins logo.

Whilst the much maligned logo has sensationally managed to win many over, it’s hard to say whether these strange metallic drips will manage to do the same –