Recycling turns to limited edition

Oh wow, this shows the use for recycle! Well not in it's true sense, but still!

Klein Constantia didn’t know what to do with the grape skins that were left over from the production of their award winning wines. In the past they had fed the skins to their cows, but they decided to produce a limited edition grappa, as a gift to the people that were important to their business. 

Because the Grappa wasn’t intended for sale, Klein Constantia proposed a “half-jack” bottle with a screw cap, but eventually was able to source 4000 beautiful bottles with a unique porcelain wire stopper. It wasn’t the type of bottle Grappa was usually sold in, since it wouldn’t have to compete with other products in the category, instead it felt unique and special. And of course this made everyone happy.

Oh and if you're wondering about the cow illustration at the bottom... well he wasn't as happy as the rest.

Wake up and smell the coffee!

Who doesn't like coffee? Well, I don't!  But that doesn't stop me from looking at (and buying) beautiful coffee packaging. It might seem absurd to some of you, but when it comes to packaging, I really do not mind what's on the inside as long as I get to display the package on my bookshelf. And maybe one daywhen I'm not studying anymore, there will be a room in my house where all of these boxes, bags and bottles will live together in perfect harmony.  And no, just incase you're wondering, I'm not a hoarder, just a packaging fanatic!

So here's what you might have missed last month on Shelf Life (sorry for the long quiet period)

A renewed love for craft beer packaging!

So even though my beer celebration month is long gone and maybe forgotten for some of you, I've just enjoyed a new bunch of beer packaging inspiration from The Dieline, and I just can't hold my excitement in so I decided to share a few of them with you today.

Cheers!

Thorsteinn Beer Brand

GOODNESS gracious! What a fresh approach to label design! Here's what the creators had to say:

"This beer brand concept was born on a sunday night at school were we were supposed to make a brand for a micro-brewery. The name is traditional Icelandic name that could be loosely translated into "thirsty one".

The concept is to have one beer, 10 different bottle designs by 10 different designers. The design would be changed annually and could be put on beer glasses as well.

We decided on making versatile design but limit it down to a single color graphics. Our approach was different, but we all shared the same ideology about breaking out of the ordinary and making graphics that aren´t exactly typical for beer bottle labeling. The concept also makes the brand a platform for other graphic designers to show off their own design for design`s sake."
Thorleifur Gunnar Gíslason, Geir Olafsson and Hlynur Ingolfsson, Iceland.

Binche beer

Finally a beer with a feminine touch! I'm loving this

Binche beer is a new premium Belgian beer. What is binche? Binche is a name of the town in Belgium that was famous of their lace. The main target market of this beer are woman and we see that through the lace designs around the bottle. The look of the package is modern but traditional as well.

Still a student work but it's still remarkable.

St. Stefanus

I'm certainly not one for tradition and traditional ways . But if I have to admit,  St. Stefanus beer is something I would surely buy if ever I get my hands on one.

When you look at the label created by Brandhouse for St. Stefanus, you are seeing history. In fact you are seeing almost 700 years of beer brewing tradition, dating back to the Augustijn monks who originated the recipe. Some elements of the font used on the bottle and label even come from songbooks found in the Augustijn’s monastery library.

Hope you like it! 

Swing Mikrobrewery

Here's one to catch your eye.

Breaking away from a western approach to branding, graphic design student, Simon Langlois created packaging with a different style than the ordinary beer on the shelf.

This limited edition is produced and used exclusively during the launch party of the Swing brewery. The label is composed of strips of different coloured birch that criss-cross to represent the blend of cultures that make up Quebec’s identity today.

This Quebec vernacular typography was used for the logo of the Swing brewery. The shapes of the letters were inspired by Native American petroglyphs considering many Quebecois identity symbols are borrowed from Native American culture. (The racket sinew, bark canoes, fur, etc.)Native American petroglyphs illustrate these concepts and elements of natureas the Amerindian language was primarily oral. We can observe a river (s), spruce (i), etc.
within the logo.

The information was printed on a label then attached by a braided twine made up using the traditional colors of Quebec’s arrow belt.