In 2015, Sandeman celebrated its 225th Anniversary. Their pioneering spirit in the wine business has been unprecedented, with a permanent attitude of innovation and creativity towards its products and the business itself. Always true to its history, heritage and legacy, Sandeman is now not only 225 years old, but also 225 years strong.

Selling no less than an average of 18 bottles per minute, Sandeman is one of the biggest producers in the Porto wine business, constantly thriving to improve its premium perception, with exclusive products that are a testament to its quality.

When they called VOLTA to help them celebrate their anniversary, they asked not only for a premium perception in every material produced but also for us to develop a concept that truly explained the brand’s history and attitude. In close collaboration, we decided to create 6 stories, that together tell the story of The House of Sandeman’s 225-year-old success and commitment to quality.

See more on VOLTA’s website and on the official anniversary site.

The anniversary collection comprises six chapters: “The Word”, “The Spirit”, “The Journey”, “The Craft”, “The Pioneer”, and “The Hat and Cape”.

With the release of VOLTA’s newly designed brand identity and the creation of a new Product Design Department, we felt the need to create a different interpretation of the underlying concept behind our visual identity — Consequence. An interpretation that would explain the way we work, but also the feelings involved during the design process, from the briefing to the production phase.
We decided to do this through a bottle collection: The Shaping Collection. It is a metaphorical and visual interpretation of every phase of VOLTA’s creative process (the Shaping process), where we shape brands through careful study, strategy and experimentation. Each phase has an appropriate drink, indicated to achieve the wanted results at the right timing. Its name’s, design and shapes are branding processes in themselves, that work as a group but can be appreciated individually.

The 5 phases of our shaping process are:

#1 Briefing — Where it all starts: a moment of anxiety and anticipation.
#2 Strategy — This is a time of intensive research and planning, where everything is taken in consideration to design the brand strategy and prepare the creative concept.
#3 Design — The visual Design stage, where every idea is valid and rules are broken and rewritten. An intensive, stressful and truly rewarding phase of the process, where you see ideas coming to life.
#4 Presentation — The moment of revelation, when the idea is presented, stripped of the accessory and shows its bold creative substance.
#5 Production — Tested and approved, it is time for the idea to leave the studio and show its strength “out there”.

With this collection, we were able to try new approaches of product and brand design, while creating a cohesive yet varied branding and packaging design exercise. The usual visual codes of the different types of drink were all taken in consideration, and afterwards comprehensively questioned and rewritten.

Wright is a premier auction house specializing in modern and contemporary design. They prominently use Harriet Display Black for the openers on the homepage, accompanied by FF Bau and Univers Condensed.

From their website: “Since 2000 we have sold nearly 40,000 lots across the spectrum of 20th and 21st century design. … Rooted in our history of selling architect designed furniture from Frank Lloyd Wright to Frank Gehry, Wright pioneered the sale of Important Architecture at auction.”

The sister site wright-now.com offers classic furniture and other design items for immediate purchase, using the system fonts Arial/Helvetica throughout.

See also: 2007 Wright catalogs.