Ford Design Group designs the labels for Cape Fear Distillery, here in Wilmington. Those labels get entered into international competitions and judged against the best label designers in the world. They have won, three years running.
Below is the record: the year, the award, and the bottle it was for. The taste medals belong to the distillery. The design medals are ours.
2019. Maritime Gin.
At the John Barleycorn Awards in Dallas, Texas, Cape Fear Distillery Maritime Gin took a Gold Medal for taste and a Silver Medal for design. The design medal was for our label. Alex Munroe and Judith Scott of Cape Fear Distillery entered it, and the first we heard was when they told us we had won.
2020. The rum label.
An International Gold Winner trophy, awarded for Creative and Unusual label design. That one was for the rum. It was our third international award for Cape Fear Distillery, against the top label designers in a lot of countries.
2021. Solera Whiskey and Gamefish Vodka.
Two more, from the Las Vegas Spirits International Awards and the John Barleycorn Spirits Awards. Gold Medals for design on the Solera Whiskey and Gamefish Vodka labels.
Why label design is a fair test.
A label has one job, and it does it on a shelf, at arm reach, next to everything else in the category. Nobody reads a paragraph about it first. Either it earns the pick-up or it does not.
That is a harder test than most design work gets, and it is why we keep entering. The Gamefish Vodka label was a collaboration with marine wildlife artist Steve Goione. There is more about that project here.
The same studio does the branding, the print, the signage and the websites. To talk about a project, call (910) 202-0096 and you will get Greg.
