CONTEMPORARY LEGEND
The 300 years old project.
Grulani is a company dedicated to the production of artisanal and ancestral mezcal. It is based in the community of San Baltazar Guelavila, Oaxaca, and belongs to Leo Hernández, “maestro mezcalero” heir to a 5-generation tradition that has perfected a unique production technique over the last 300 years, using his own palenque and agave crops. The objective of this project was to represent the main attributes of the Hernandez family history and theIr production through a brand capable to communicate that Grulani is proudly heir to the deepest traditions, aware of its pre-Hispanic and colonial heritage, but immersed in the contemporary context, culturally powerful, but universal and sophisticated now turned into a luxury product.This is a very special mezcal, the personal family reserve. As an exclusive and premium product the brand needed to look premium and contemporary, proud of its milennial roots.
TOOLS USED
CREATIVE DIRECTION
ART DIRECTION
BRANDING
PHOTOGRAPHY
VIDEO EDITING
VIDEO PRODUCTION
PRODUCT DESIGN
ILLUSTRATION
WEB DESIGN
MY ROLE: Grulani came to me to create a brand for the Hernandez family personal reserve of ancestral mezcal. Over the next months we worked together to create their identity. The project inluded deep research around competitors, the mezcal industry and the company itself, followed with a workshop to define the brand’s positioning, shape and tone that helped me get the project from the first visual proposals to the final deliverables. I have executed all of the necessary creative pieces for the brand launch, including labels, printables, stationery, their first website all the way to the bottle and a branding design system that they use up to date.
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RESEARCH: An aesthetic and historical research focused on Oaxaca (mexican state) including oversall Mexican aesthetics and its symbolism, was carried out. The research covered pre-Hispanic, colonial, and contemporary rural and urban periods. What symbols can represent Mexican culture? Which ones can be twinned with mezcal? How to find a balance within such an extensive history to translate it into a modern and functional graphic identity? The answers to those questions is shown in the following process.
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IDENTITY: Grulani means “Fiery mouth” in Zapotec, an indigenous language from Oaxaca. So I’ve searched for graphic representations of fire and agave (the plant which is used to produce mezcal) within ancient Mexican cultures. I’ve found a couple of interesting Aztec glyphs, one representing fire and the one to represent the agave plant, both having a strong resemblance. I’ve made a fusion between both symbols to achieve a “fiery agave” isotype wich proudly carries ancient inheritance while looking modern, and above all, is functional, iconic, and recognizable.
FIRE
AGAVE / PLANT
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COLORS: Mexico is undoubtedly one of the world’s most vibrant and colorful countries. Color is part of everyday life, and this love for color has an ancient origin. The mission for the colors in Grulani was the same. To honor the extensive Mexican history in a contemporary context, and for this reason, a color palette inspired by prehispanic art was built. This palette finds its origins, especially in natural pigments used by different cultures such as the Grana Red, formerly obtained from insects, Carbon, the main black pigment used in ancient times, indigo blue, obtained from plants, and jade as the most appreciated stone, the grey is found in the raw cotton fabric, and to crown the palette I used gold, as ancient cultures did to crown and accent their art. All of these were common colors for ancient cultures that can still be found in the current rural and urban Mexican context.
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SYMBOLS / SHAPES: This brand needed to be a living organism and to be capable to evolve. A static brand was not an option, but how to achieve it? Ancient Mexican cultures are known for their harmonic symmetrical designs, that kind of shapes are still used today in crafts and architecture, blended with the Spanish aesthetics which at the same time had a strong Islamic influence throughout the Mudejar style that arrived to Mexico. All of that comprises contemporary Mexican esthetics with all of these shapes coexisting harmonically today. I’ve created a visual “alphabet” built with over 500 different symbols taken from Mayan, Aztec, Zapotec, Toltec, Olmec, Mudejar, Spanish, colonial, modern, and contemporary art and architecture capable to create an infinite number of combinations that builds unique designs to use for the Grulani labels.
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LABELS: Grulani labels are built from the visual alphabet. As a physical object they needed to make sense with the mezcal production cycle and chose the right materials to honor de handmade process. Natural pigmens, and agave paper were the answer. I also built a hand written typography to add a personalized and hand made feeling.
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THE ZAPOTECA BOTTLE:
The most interesting part of this project was to create a physical object capable to contain an awesome mezcal. But also the new brand, and all of the heritage it represents. Again, the process started in the mexican prehispanic cultures. I have researched around ancient vessels and bottles, talked to a specialized archeologist, studied the number of curves and constructions of ancient archeological pieces in order to mold our new bottle out of this essential designs.
Hundreds of sketches were drawn by hand. I have used this sketches to help define the way to follow with the client. After recovering the 10 best designs it was time to clean them up and start creating digital prototypes.
With the help of a industrial designer. We started transtating the sketches into viable and fuctional bottles. All of them were traced and then turned into a realistic image in order to have a closer image of how this bottle might look. We experimented with different materials for the bottle itself, the cap and the rest of the possible parts. Ceramic, stone, glass, wood, cork, corn plant parts, etc.
After working and iterating with many ideas, this was the final result: The Zapoteca bottle, a bottle composed of four parts, a hand made body made of blown glass (representing fire) a cap and base made of oak wood (the same wood used to feed the ovens to produce mezcal and coming from Oaxaca itself) and an agave paper label printed with natural pigments. The bottle cap is inspired in zapotec art, the body is based on a prehispanic vessel, and the wood base, strong as a zapotec pyramid represents the roots and history of this mezcal. The bottle might leave the base, but the base always remains in the ground, as Grulani’s 300 years history.
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THE CONCEPT: How to condense this brand in a single phrase to position it? All mezcal claims to be traditional, all of them are proud of their history. Grulani is too. But this brand is part of its times. The Hernandez family is a legend in Oaxaca, survivors of the prohibition, attatched to the love of producing mezcal no matter what. The Hernandez and its special reserve are a legend, but a contemporary one.
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POINTS OF CONTACT: Grulani wanted a website out of the standards. “an online brochure” more than a website, something beautiful an unconventional. I have created n out of the box website applying all of the brands principles to it.
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THE RESULT: A solid brand, as mexican as sophisticated, as historic as contemporary. Worthy of a three century history that justifies every penny for those who want to earn the right to taste this wonderful mezcal.
