Kololak, a restaurant that lies in the heart of Armenia, has developed a new range of in-house wines for which design studio Backbone Branding carefully crafted adorable packaging design that hits you right ‘in the feels’—but in a good way. To allow the audience to experience positive emotions of admiring something absolutely beautiful, the artists worked on the aesthetics of new wine bottles while adorning them with a coat that is all about the country’s strong visual heritage.
With the Armenian miniature art, its manuscripts, and calligraphy, all meticulously embedded on the wine bottles, you’ll feel like you are a part of some amazing story. Here is where the wine turns into a ticket to a land where the restaurant’s visual identity and its in-house wine’s packaging perfectly merge with the locals’ hospitality and their world of endless customs.
The wine is named after the restaurant and can be translated as something ‘of a round shape’. The location bears a strong storytelling concept, which is reflected in the rich Armenian cultural legacy and its traditions for the locals to socialize at a round table, with a well-known hospitality approach of entertaining and honoring their guests. But this story is told not only amongst the locals but also among us, the readers of the weekly #ThrowBrandThursday.
To develop the branding concept, the artists had to work on Kololak’s house-wines collection that features different types of fruit wines. According to the studio, the real challenge was to come up with something that speaks about these wines in a very original way and expresses the unknown artisans that stand behind them. Therefore, the packaging had to keep the specific identity so that anyone who takes a sip of the wine and sees its bottle will think about Armenia’s traditions.
Each bottle comes with a different packaging design. While the illustrations differ, the material that elegantly covers the vessels stays the same: a piece of high-quality hand-wrapped piece of paper which is perfectly stretched on each bottle—to allow the consumer to clearly see the picture that’s printed onto it—but which twists when it reaches its neck. The visual ensemble is nicely complemented by a round stopper, which looks like that it’s made of solid wood.
“[Kololak House Wine] work combines in it the Armenian cultural heritage with a contemporary touch! It was our utmost pleasure to dive deep into our folk traditions, extract the most unique ones and present with a modern approach, completing the cultural atmosphere of the restaurant. The hand-drawn illustrations, manuscripts, and calligraphies, depicting famous toasting quotes, the culture of feasting and wine serving, all these you can find on the wrapped packaging of the bottles,” claim the artists from the Yerevan-based studio.
The hand-drawn illustrations were carefully made to be as glamorous and luxurious as can be. Each design speaks volumes about the premium quality of the wines, whilst the bottles themselves represent a good way to spark conversation not only amongst connoisseurs but also among amateur wine-lovers. Cheers to the whimsical packaging that has simply enchanted our sights with mystique and intrigue!
