Who says that culture clash is a bad thing? William Stormdal’s design for Staur Distillery combines Norwegian influences with the distilling techniques of Japan. The resulting crossroads create a design that is recognizable while at the same time looking completely unfamiliar. The whiskey bottle, for example, embraces the refined Nordic style while also incorporating the form and layout of Japanese style.
“The concept for the brand is to create a fusion between the Norwegian agricultural tradition, with the Japanese artisan production and liquor heritage. A style for something handmade and yet refined – combined with elegant layout and attention to detail and visual concepts.”
The design clearly possesses Nordic influence, and the distillery process uses Japanese traditions. The final product is made by local producers, and the Japanese brewing style is more environmental friendly than other options. In this way, Staur’s actions are perfectly in line with its values of tradition, heritage, and nature.
“The typography was important to capture the essence and the feel of the brand. For the logotype we used Christian Pannicke’s amazing font Nora and added small modifications. We combined the serif, that looks like it’s been cut out from wood with the more modern appeal of the Akkurat Pro font family. For text I’ve chosen Kinesis Pro 3, a subtle and quirky serif that has a lot of traditional values but with oddities that makes it a recognisable and characteristic font.”
