A Story of Beauty, Gods and Wine
Kamea Wine packaging design is a very new project in my portfolio created for Kamea winery.
It’s a family owned brand that will soon turn into real winery. When I first met Kamea team they already had interesting story about their name and the wine packaging I was commissioned to design for their classy wines.
The Name
Kamea is Bulgarian interpretation of the word Cameo – a tradition to carve seashells that began in the fifteenth or sixteenth century and was popularized by Queen Victoria of England. Since that time, cameos have predominately showcased women’s profiles, and been worn by women who enjoy the beauty and craftsmanship of hand-carved cameos. Kamea winery used this word to identify their wines with timeless beauty of art.
The Project
I had several meetings with Kamea team brainstorming on what to do with the wine packaging design and how to use the best of their beautiful name. In one of our conversation we stumbled upon the word ‘thyrsus’ which immediately turned into a storyboard for my new design.
Thyrsus was usually a longer wand covered with ivy vines and leaves, ending with a pine cone – a famous symbol of fertility. It was used by Dyonisus, the God of Wine, in his feasts.
Thyrsus was interesting wine symbol dating back from the times of our predecessors – the Thrace. It was a perfect match to use it in our wine packaging design incorporated with cameo-style elliptical frames. Ellipses are not frequently used for wine labels shape but in this case they just made the connection between the cameos, the beauty and the wine itself represented by the thyrsus.
The oval shape of the label I did made it more distinguish and recognizable on the shelf. You first see the specific shape of the label, the closer you get while approaching towards the bottle, the more of the story behind reveals.
The Execution
Paper is of great importance here – I used my favorite Jade Raster paper by Arconvert because its pearl finish was in real harmony with the whole idea behind Kamea wine packaging design.
Some of the details are stamped with warm gold hot-foil. A transparent raised varnish is applied on certain elements which I wanted to shine even more.
The capsule is gold with embossed logo on the top.
The Result
Kamea wine packaging design has classic feeling but it does look very different from other wines on the shelf. The combination of interesting story and carefully crafted design made this wine label shine with own beauty right on the border between past and modernity.
Credits
Client: Kamea Winery
Design: the Labelmaker
Print: Rotoprint
Photo: Jordan Jelev
