Snowbird Spirits

Launching a spirit that has one foot in Florida, one foot in New York, and deep roots in permaculture.

Snowbird is a farm distillery based in the tradition of New World sugarcane juice spirits and European eau de vie. The spirits are bottled un-aged with no additives to maintain the integrity and expression of the single grown ingredient.

I had the immense pleasure of partnering with the founders to bring this new farm/distillery to life. The brand is always in harmony of opposite influences: New York and Florida, new technology and old world production, agriculture and ambient yeast, high and low. Though it has not launched yet, it’s some of my favorite work visual and voice work.

2020

Director of Brand & Design

☑️ In-house

⬛️ Agency

⬛️ Freelance

⬛️ Self-Initiated

Branding

Art direction

Research and positioning

Merchandise

Every element is a holistic blend

The logo is a wading bird named Ibis Vitae, it’s origin comes form “aqua vitae,” a Renaissance term meaning the water of life. It’s inside a frame reminiscent of a Florida sunset and a New York snow globe. The condensed wordmark is a nod to the Art Deco scenes with both FL/NY— with the W extending from Ibis’ leg.

The secondary mark is the Sunflake, another mix of New York’s snowflakes and Florida’s sun rays. It’s built from taking the wordmark’s W and cloning in a circle.

The color palette is pulled directly from the beautiful architecture of Miami beach, aptly named Sophisticated Sunset. We brought in the deep blue color to fold in some NY history of dutch settlers (and more recognizably all their sports teams). The copper highlight stems from the distilling process, used when we want to add a little panache.