The urban insertion of a brand coming from the agricultural universe is not an easy task.While the brand must remain distinguishable it must also not clash with the preexisting city heritage, dating back several centuries.
The essence of a brand
SERVE Winery, the brand in question, is a wine producer funded by a family with a history of wine making of over 200 years. As such, they have strong family heritage as one of their core brand pillars. In the context of an insertion within the city, at the foot of an architectural monument, this meant the brand representation was supposed to convey not just an image, but an experience. The experience of enjoying good wine and good food together with friends and family in a welcoming, warm environment. The result is Victoria x SERVE Winery. Conveying the essence was much more important than formalism itself. As such, most of the project was done using Midjourney, making it easy for the client to decide the cohesive design direction. You can see the methodology behind finding the physical identity of the brand here.
Horizontal integration
This project is a perfect example of horizontal integration. This is contrasting to vertical integration, when we focus more on the supply chain, from agricultural land, grapes, wine making, overall everything happening in a rural environment In horizontal integration however we focus on how we can make our business present in several moments of our customer’s lives. In this case, the product originates from the countryside but is brought into the urban life, almost like an artefact. Making this work meant an exceptional balancing act between visual elements, materials and meaning. If one of these is off balance, instead of creating complexity we create kitsch. So careful with horizontal integration. Proper ones are more profitable, while others feel opportunistic and will not survive.
The terrace acts like a buffer between the intensity of the city and the protection of the hotel.
