For its 2020 Vintages Collection, Plantation Rum (Maison Ferrand) chose a Birds of Paradise theme. The collection launched with three rums, each featuring a different exotic bird linked to spirits’ provenance
The Fiji Lory, the Jamaican hummingbird and the Barbados pelican adorn the brightly colored packs of Plantation Rum’s 2020 Vintages Collection. For each millésime, a terroir is expressed via graphically striking packaging adorned with local flora and fauna. The next rum in the collection will highlight Peru and its tunki bird.
Key to the project was defining a template that would use the same production tools (materials, cutting, hot stamping, embossing) for each vintage, while adapting the illustrations and enabling the range to evolve.
"Three years ago, we used the same secondary pack with a customized label for each vintage. Today this is no longer enough,” explains Maison Ferrand’s creative manager Pierre Casteuble. Consumers are looking for a unique experience, he explains, and packs need to be evermore eye-catching to stand out on store shelves.
The Birds of Paradise theme features both on the bottle’s uncoated paper label (Ruel Étiquettes) and on the outer box (Wauters), which is printed on the uncoated underside of a BillerudKorsnäs complex – a first for the supplier, according to Maison Ferrand - and decorated using black and gold hotstamping and embossing.
For Casteuble, sensoriality is key: “I preferred to work on an uncoated BillerudKorsnäs reverse side, while the craft traditionally approaches it on its coated front side; there’s more texture and the grain of the paperboard brings warmth and conviviality.”
For Wauters, this meant having to adapt its process to ensure a high level of quality using a paperboard that absorbs inks and tends to soften shades; from making sure the gilding holds well to achieving color intensity.
Plantation Rum’s Vintages are distilled and aged in their country of origin before being aged for a second time in Ferrand French oak barrels in Cognac, France. They are housed in a bespoke bottle (Verallia) – the brand’s proprietary mold is also used for its Bar Classics and Single Casks ranges - with raffia adornment.
The brand will introduce a new collection each year of four to five Vintages under a specific theme.
BottleVerallia
StopperLes Bouchages Delage
LabelRuel Étiquettes
BoxWauters
DesignPierre Casteuble (Maison Ferrand)
IllustrationThe Rooster Factory
