The Brand:
Terai brings together the expertise of four
generations of agricultural and distilling heritage, an
Indian 'spirit of craft', carefully selected local botanicals
and a proprietary base spirit to be an India Dry Gin of
true provenance.
The Idea:
Where does one begin building a story for a
new brand of liquor. After dabbling in fantastic fables,
grand Indian stories and Gin history, we finally found
that we had to look no further than the rich heritage of
the founder's family. The Swarups' familial connection to
the land, its history and people provided rich fodder to
create an authentic story for the Gin. 'Craft' was
reinterpreted in an Indian context and a brand was
created with as much care and honest clarity as the
liquid.
Design: The journey took us through strategy,
storytelling, naming, bottle design, identity design, label
making, and working with traditional craftsmen for the
wooden stopper.
The Wreath
A very special set of vintage Indian coins that we
stumbled upon in the Swarup family's collection became
the inspiration for an illustration of our botanicals. These
coins minted in early independent India have a unique
visual style, symbolic of Indian pluralism itself, with an
apparent collaboration between colonial designers and
Indian artists. The Terai botanicals have been visually
interpreted in a similar way, a hat-tip to that era. They
were researched, drawn carefully by hand, then
converted with specialised craftsmen to a fine sculptural
emboss on the Terai label.
Stopper Design
Our search for the right Terai bottle stopper took us to
India's beloved 'toy town' Channapatna. The
handcrafted stoppers are made of ivory wood that is
backyard-grown, seasoned, and carved on simple
lathes. Natural tree-sap lacquer coloured with vegetable
dyes are used to coat the piece as it spins, buffed to a
shine using palm leaves. The beautiful stoppers are a
physical outcome of the brand's craft story.
Bar Games
Spin the Channapatna made spintop on the Terai bottle.
If you can make a G&T before it stops or falls off, you
win!
Bottle Design
Terai was conceived as a confident, modern, global
brand with a strong, deeply rooted and authentic Indian
spirit. The bottle would be the primary touchpoint to
express this. Amongst our sketches, a tall, faceted
design inspired by hand-carved pillars in ancient Indian
architecture and products was selected for development.
The shape, dimensions, proportions of the lip, shoulder,
body and base were refined and tested over months,
achieving the right form, ergonomics and fabrication
details.
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