Southwest Distillery
Navigating the sea of spirits, Southwest Distillery orients itself with its own compass. With courage, it differs from the old ideas, even so, it is traditional in its own way. Headquartered in São Roque, in the interior of São Paulo and surrounded by the Atlantic forest, the distillery’s mission is to care for the local fauna and flora, which is why it helps injured animals in the region, through institutions.
The company’s history begins on a remote island in the United Kingdom and finds its way to Brazil, by its master distiller, part of a lineage of navigators, apothecary and lovers of a good drink. To launch the first two Southwest gins, an exclusive bottle design, labels and boxes were made that evoke this legacy with elegance and instigate consumers and nature lovers to taste.
The logo was designed with Captain Nelson. It is a serif typeface with several distressed options, which allowed us to customize it to refer to that traditional look of British sailors while maintaining a contemporary look. From it, a monogram was customized; on its counter-shape there is the drop that represents the act of distillation.
Engravers Gothic complements the logo for the endorsement and very punctual texts on the packaging. Friz Quadrata contrasts Captain Nelson’s weight in identity with her historical but functional air in long texts.
The family tree of the British master distiller Alex Rudd led the project’s research to the origin of his ancestors, in a remote archipelago, the Shetland Islands. In the southwest of the island is located: Sumburgh Head, the first lighthouse in the region. The magnificence of this monument, its importance for the navigators of the time and the pattern of its stained glass window, were inspirations for the shape of the bottle and the lozenge weave around it, with the addition of brand elements such as a monogram, a drop and the geographical coordinates of the lighthouse. The distillery’s identity explores graphics and perforations that refer to old travel stamps, as well as engravings of botanists and anthropomorphic animals from the region in a Victorian cocktail context. This is manifested in the discreet labels, by the presence of illustrations and a special knife.
The achieved packaging solution differs from national competitors that normally use common bottles. The detail at the bottom of the bottle encourages consumers to understand the history of the product and its striking texture transforms the packaging into an object of decorative desire even after consumption. The labels on textured paper, with a guarantee of ecological origin, have botanical details, a sensorial profile, high relief and elegant golden finishes. Regional animals preparing drinks, present in the bottle, reinforce the purpose of animal protection linked to the drink. In addition, the graphic elements and colors alternate to sectorize the styles of gin, bringing a result that presents the positioning with the desired refinement to reach the most refined public.
