Ideas around the ‘new codes of luxury’ have come up a lot lately; an updated, contemporary take on what makes something look special, valuable, covetable, and ultimately, expensive. The long and short of it is that it’s out with the old – lavish foils, gold everywhere, bling and ornamentation and ostentation – and in with a quieter, more subtle aesthetic where understatement becomes the statement in and of itself.
This zeitgeisty take on a sector steeped in history, tradition and high price tags is exemplified beautifully in some lovely work here for alcohol free champagne alternative Society De La Rassi. The premium dealcoholised sparkling wine, which is made from 100% Chardonnay vintage grapes, was founded by Steve Jackson and is aimed squarely at the ‘sober-curious and highly-social’, offering what it calls ‘an invitation… a call to join a community of like-minded individuals who seek to savour life’s finest moments with clarity and intention’.
Society De La Rassi describes itself as ‘rooted in tradition yet driven by innovation’ – a sparkling wine that ‘marries timeless craftsmanship with the spirit of a bold new era… At the heart of our vision is the belief that change is not just inevitable but essential – a chance to blend the past and the present, tradition and modernity, into something extraordinary.’
It’s a lofty raison d’être for sure, but one that’s manifested through its branding superbly, thanks to ‘design and venture bureau’, Blurr Bureau, which has offices in Melbourne and New York.
Blurr Bureau worked across the brand strategy, naming, visual and verbal identity, packaging design and brand guidelines for Society De La Rassi. The agency was tasked with developing the brand identity ‘from the ground up’, creating a ‘premium offering for an emerging market’. It continues, ‘As a champagne alternative in a category dominated by heritage brands, how can a newcomer garner equal or greater gravitas for its quality and craft?’
It can’t be easy to balance two of the key requirements of the brief – creating a brand that can hold its own alongside heritage champagne houses, while also ensuring it resonates with a new, emergent audience. But we reckon Blurr Bureau has cracked it here, with a visual identity that feels timeless, classy, different enough but the same enough to not feel outlandish within a tradition-led category.
There’s more than a whiff of kowtowing to that idea of heritage in the name, which we’re not 100% sure makes sense, but either way it works: Rassi stems from the Italian word for red, Rosso. As such, at the heart of the identity is a bold red rectangle dubbed ‘the portal’. This saturated block of colour serves as the brand’s shorthand, designed to be instantly recognisable at whatever scale, in any scenario. It’s hoped, probably, that one day it’ll sit alongside the likes of Veuve Clicquot’s orange or Dom Pérignon’s shield as an instant signifier – here, perhaps of quality and taste, of classy good times done sober.
The type choices are where things get a lot more modern. For the wordmark, Blurr Bureau opted to use a playfully extended version of New Zealand foundry Klim’s sans serif Helvetica-like Söhne Breit with unusually exaggerated spacing, making the whole thing rather enchanting to look at in its slightly off-kilter take on classic modernist tropes. In another clever move, the wordmark’s rectangular proportions echo the portal motif central to the brand.
That subtle but palpable eccentric undertone is heightened by the use of Simon Mono as a supporting typeface across bottle labels, packaging, social posts, headlines on the brand’s website and more. The font by Utah-based design practice Actual Source is a lovely take on typewriter-esque type, and it provides a nice contrast to the more neutral lettering of Söhne. It also offers a counterpoint to the other brand font, which is used for longer text, Untitled Serif. Another Klim font, Untitled provides a quieter, more classical counterpoint to its siblings.
A wilder, more poetic flourish is offered by the use of ED Sonar in one context and one context only: the badge stating Society de la Rassi’s non-alcoholic credentials. The font, by Indonesia-based foundry and design studio Emyself Design is floral, expressive, resolutely scripty in its hand-drawn-like elegance, nodding to the conventions of monograms and wax seals, another smart smidgen of old-world luxury for the thoroughly modern brand.
For the bottles themselves, labels are printed on rich, uncoated stock, creating a tactile, artisanal feel. The red portal graphic is realised through glossy heat-stamping, ensuring the colour sings against the matte ground, while the wordmark is applied with raised thermography, catching the light to lend depth and shimmer. Black ink debossing provides further tonal contrast, giving the overall composition a layered tactility that feels both crafted and covetable.
The only thing I’m not too sure about is the way the brand copy overtly flirts with the sort of language we’d usually associate with cults, or the sort of entities that rely on secret handshakes or special signet rings à la Freemasons and their ilk. It can feel a little clumsily Eyes Wide Shut-leaning: sometimes you don’t want to ‘join the Society’, you just want something to sip on at parties.
But that’s a small bugbear for an overall gorgeous piece of brand design. The interplay of modern geometry, a refined but thoroughly unique typographic hierarchy, and indulgent print techniques positions Society De La Rassi firmly as a modern brand that’s ready to become a challenger taking on the big-name, history-steeped legacy champagne brands. While it’s kept things clean, minimal and very slightly playful, there’s no doubt it has a sense of the gravitas and grandeur of heritage houses while catering to the New Guard of luxury consumers – specifically, those who want to party booze-free.
Where Blurr Bureau has really excelled is in creating branding for Society De La Rassi that embraces rather than shuns tradition. It reinterprets the visual affectations of heritage champagne for a new era by introducing subtle twists: negative space in the wordmark, a red block instead of a crest or shield, slightly out-there typographic decisions. These elements work together to forge a visual dialogue between reverence and rebellion that caters to the New Guard of luxury consumers – specifically, those who want to party booze-free.
