In less than a decade, Collective Arts of Hamilton, Ontario has taken creativity to a new level. In that time, a lot of craft breweries and distilleries have come on the scene. But arguably none take their can and bottle designs as seriously as Collective Arts.
That’s because one of the company’s founding principles was to bring art to the masses. Engaging with emerging artists, Collective Arts showcases their work and provides a platform to be discovered and shared. Through an ever-changing line up of beer, spirits and cocktails, Collective Arts has featured over 2,000 artists from 42 countries.
Cans are mainstream in craft brewing, so when Collective Arts began branching out into craft distilling, it needed a whole new approach to showcase art on glass bottles. How do you achieve a complex, high quality design that was (literally!) a piece of art on glass?
A traditional adhesive label simply wouldn’t do the designs justice. Collective Arts stands behind the quality of its beverages, using only top quality ingredients and time-tested processes, so the actual container had to live up to these highest standards.
That’s where Stanpac came in. The multinational packaging specialist features a well-established division dedicated to glass bottle decorating. Based in Niagara, Stanpac has a top notch reputation and track record printing directly on glass bottles for many of the area’s world-class wineries. Having perfected Applied Ceramic Labelling (ACL) technology over the years, Stanpac was up to Collective Art’s challenge to turn glass gin bottles into works of art.
“Stanpac was very patient working with us to find the best possible colours for the inks needed to make our artwork pop,” says TK Palermo, Brand Marketing & Communications at Collective Arts. “They were just as committed as we were to realizing the best translation of art to bottle as possible, and they worked with us to find the perfect placement for our designs. Their QA team is very diligent and helpful.”
Bottle designs for Collective Arts four popular gin flavours – Artisanal Dry Gin, Rhubarb & Hibiscus, Lavender & Juniper, and Plum & Blackthorn – share a common postage stamp style branded label, imprinted in front of gorgeous, colourful backgrounds drawn by emerging artists from Victoria, Mexico City, Philadelphia and Chicago respectively.
Customers rave about both the bottles and the gin inside. Some restaurants reuse the empty bottles to serve water. And consumers have been known to keep bottles as shelf decorations at home. After all, art comes in many forms, even bottles!
Learn more at: collectiveartsbrewing.com/spirits !
