a label of love

Small Batch Hand-Crafted Deliciousness

I had never heard of nocino when Sara contacted me about creating a label for her bottles of an Italian style walnut liqueur. She pretty much had me at liqueur, because it’s basically dessert in a glass, and what’s not to love about that?

Then she described her elixir: made in small batches from wild foraged walnuts, flavored with cinnamon, cloves, vanilla…my mouth was watering in anticipation. Of designing her label, of course.

First Step: The Name

There was some debate over the name, because her first thought was “Nocino di Strega,” basically “witches’ brew” in Italian. She was afraid this might put some people off, so we played around with “Nutty Wildwood Nocino” and variations on the theme, but I encouraged her to go for it.

Once the name was a done deal, then came some brainstorming about the look. Playing on the all natural side of her recipe, it made sense to show off some of the ingredients. So we did.

Inspiration & Research

Important fact finding took place next - basic information, such as, what does a walnut leaf look like, anyway? Inspiration came from one of my favorite sources: vintage botanical illustrations.

I do love all the sepia-toned goodness that comes from an online search for prints like this, and I have a whole Pinterest board to prove it. More importantly, the client loved it, which is what really matters. The bonus on top of this fun label design project for me was a bottle of that delicious witches’ brew. Yum.

So if you’re out there, with your own special brew you would like to bottle up and get on the shelves, I’m here for you. We’ll make it beautiful with a label of love.