Interview about Weingut Waalem Brand Identity, winner of the A' Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design Award 2023
Viticulture on a North Sea island? Climate change makes that possible. And the polar bear is the symbol of climate change. It stands for intelligence, intrepidity and endurance. Just like the inhabitants of the island of Fohr in the North Frisian Wadden Sea. The original landscape and maritime history of the island of Fohr can also be found in the winery. The design combines historical tiles of the island's maritime history with the colors of nature. The graphic simplicity offers all possibilities for the growing product range. Sustainable enjoyment, original and close to home.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsDuring my first visit to the winery and many visits to the island of Föhr in old captains' houses, I discovered that a large number of hand-painted, historic tiles were used in the houses. The island's history of captains and seafarers is often depicted on these tiles. The Roeloffs family, one of the initiators of the winery, has had many captains in their family. This goes back to the 14th century. There are various paintings from this period, but also stories and hand-painted tiles and the whole atmosphere of the island. Föhr is characterised by these maritime elements. The winery itself, located on an island in the North Sea, is so unique that it was obvious to combine these two things. The winery is located directly on the North Sea and its founder is a member of the island's impressive seafaring family. In my opinion, there is no other option but to link these two things together.
The polar bear, a typical symbol of climate change (we all have the image of a polar bear on a melting ice floe in our minds), appears here as a positive, identity-forming element. It is only thanks to climate change that wine growing has become possible on Föhr. In addition, the winery itself houses the largest private library on the subject of climate protection and climate change.
Technically speaking, I took photos on the island of the surroundings of the objects and on the winery. From this, it gradually became clear which objects were more suitable for colouring, which for graphic representation and which for pictorial representation. Then I first created a colour catalogue. I selected fonts and turned all the tiles I had photographed into individual objects that could then be used in a variety of ways and customised depending on their application. I made reproductions of the paintings and had them painted on traditional tiles by a Dutch artist. These tiles were also digitised.
Above all, it was my intensive study of Northern European and especially insular seafaring that made storytelling possible in the first place. After discovering that maritime history is very well documented, I created a chronology of the various captains with their ships and names. This documentation allowed me to see where the respective captains had sailed with their ships and develop suggestions for how we could use these stories. The names of the captains, such as Roeloffs, Riewerts and Rörden, are so distinctive that they were also suitable as proper names for the spirits. This made it possible to show the tile with the ship that the respective captain was sailing on the bottle. And so a very unique spirit was created that is connected to a captain, his ship and the history of the ship, and thus also to the winery.
The graphic reduction was necessary to ensure clarity. The drinks are sold through specialist retailers and shops. There is an incredible variety of bottles available, many of them very decorative. We wanted to stand out clearly from the crowd and, above all, strengthen the distinctive brand image of ‘Das Weingut mit dem Eisbären’ (The Winery with the Polar Bear).
The Clan font shapes the overall look. The Revista and Rostrot fonts are more product-oriented. I also worked on other projects related to the winery's operators, where it was important to create links. These include the Museum Kunst, the Westküste and Gretchens Gasthof. I have already used the Clan font for both of these and have won various design awards for other reasons as well. The font contributes greatly to strengthening the cohesion and connection between the various ventures and links that also exist in terms of organisation and personnel.
The square itself is a very good way of structuring a wide variety of formats. The fact that it forms the basis here is, of course, due to the tiles on the captains' houses. Nevertheless, everything has been tailored to these tiles: from the business card to the website. In the latter case, a separate design and programming concept was developed to enable the tile idea to be implemented on all end devices.
To be completely honest, I wasn't influenced by the traditional visual codes of the wine industry. It's more that I wanted to break away from the established and common codes, patterns and approaches.
When it came to the colour scheme, I also took the basics from the museum and the inn, which I mentioned earlier. I added colours from the immediate surroundings of the winery. These are mainly colours of the sky (sunny, cloudy, stormy), the changing sea and the mudflats. And also the wood, which in this case can also be called flotsam. I then defined the exact colour harmony depending on their use, their demarcation and the expansion of the overall colour spectrum.
That's a very good question, which I can't answer at the moment. As the product range is constantly changing and I am only involved in the product development process at a later stage, I can't say exactly how the link to local heritage can continue to be guaranteed. If the products continue to be produced directly on the island or with elements from the island (e.g. botanicals), then I don't see any difficulties. If the product range develops in such a way that other locations (e.g. South Africa or Georgia) also supplement their own wines, then another line may need to be developed.
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