Säde Schnapps

Säde is a Nordic-inspired brand of liquor. Säde’s origins are rooted in a restaurant called Umami, that is owned by award-winning sommelier Kristjan Päeske and head chef Janno Lepik. The concept behind their restaurant is to offer exquisite high-quality food using fresh and seasonal raw materials. They play around with interesting ingredients and match their drinks for it, and sometimes they create their own drinks to match the characteristic of their food. Among these drinks, their homemade liqueur got popular in the restaurant, and Kristjan and Janno saw a strong case to sell it in retail.

Designed by packaging design agency KOOR, this flavorful schnapps doesn’t use artificial ingredients but instead, in keeping with the concept of the restaurant, turn to nature for their unique, fresh flavors.

The packaging of the bottles has been inspired by nature as well. In designing the liquor bottles, the brand, packaging and naming were kept in mind in order to reflect the ideology of the restaurant and how they do things—purity, high-quality and freshness.

The restaurant's food and drinks are produced using Nordic ingredients, and in the increasingly popular and recognized the Nordic culinary style. The designers at KOOR took the decision to reflect this Nordic purity and freshness in the packaging of the product. The idea was to design it in a way that the natural elements and the artisanal nature of the product would be highlighted.

The specially sourced tall bottles are in themselves an attractive part of the design, but the labels ensure that the design stands out as unique and memorable. The labels feature an aesthetic combination of white, black and gray, creating a very visually appealing effect. The font is mostly lowercase and in dark black. It is well-spaced and easy to read, ensuring that attention is not detracted from the label.

The pure white base has been offset with styled black prints, as well as typographic and layout patterns that take cues from Nordic design. The labels also feature very artistically created designs, inspired from the ingredients used to make the liquor. In fact, the leaf and wood motifs printed on the labels of the bottles were created from carefully crafted ink prints and digital photographs, taken from the very trees and bushes the fruits were grown on. These handcrafted labels add a personal touch to the bottles, and are completely on-brand with the visual identity of the company. The word “Säde” means spark in English; since some of the trees were damaged during a storm, the designers thought it would be a good idea to "capture their last spark" (Säde) in that way.

The labels evoke a spirit of purity and clarity, as well as a touch of minimalism coupled with a modern look. They have a contemporary, fresh, unique and artisanal vibe to them, engaging the viewer. Colors, shapes and spaces have been used brilliantly to create a unique design that manages to stand out as well as depict the identity of the brand.

Säde Schnapps is an elegant package design in the Food & Beverage industry.