Stencil artist helps bring wine brand to life

By Design Daily Team, October 6, 2011 @ 12:49 pm

Wine labels have in the past walked a very traditional designer line, but as of late, a more artful and playful approach seems to be growing in popularity. Dick Frizzell has produced a range with his unique touch, and to celebrate its first birthday, daily deal site GrabOne Bottle used its Facebook page to have fans vote on their favourite design by Media Design School graduate Allan Wrath, the winning design appearing on its special edition anniversary bottle. Now Cloudy Bay wine has enlisted the help of stencil artist Hayley King, also known as ‘Flox’, to bring the first of its 2011 Cloudy Bay sauvignon blanc season “to life”.

“Wine is a sensory experience and so is art…we felt that one could inspire the other, which led to the idea of a creative collaboration with Flox,” said Cloudy Bay brand manager Rai Banbury.

King created a unique 3m x 2m mural, which she describes as:

“The mural illustrates a symmetry of what we all know as our beautiful country Aotearoa combined with representative elements from the Cloudy Bay 2011 Sauvignon Blanc, the wine itself is pale straw green, reflected in my colour palette. The waxeye and saddleback birds are iconic New Zealand natives…the blackcurrant leaf reflects the blackcurrant notes in the wine and the wood grain gives the piece a subtle, natural feel. In the distance, the soft hues of the Cloudy Bay mountain silhouettes tie into the overall subdued and organic feel of the composition.”

The artwork was created as a live window installation in Australis House in Auckland’s Britomart, where it has been on display for just over one week. Australis House was also decked out with a living pop up urban vineyard for the launch of the vintage.

Want to see how it all came together? Check out the time lapse video of King at work below.