The origin of ARC
Archipelago (ARC) is a line of craft gins by Full Circle Craft Distillers, the Philippines’ first-ever craft distillery. It is owned and founded by Matthew Westfall, a third-generation distiller. His grandfather, Peter Westfall, moved to the Philippines in 1918, then he went on to work on beverages we know and love today. Read more about their history on their website.
Matthew went all over the Philippines in search of the right flavors for his own beverage. The flagship product of ARC is a balanced botanical gin and is made up of over 28 botanicals. It uses local fruits such as pomelo, calamansi, and dayap and flowers such as ylang-ylang, sampaguita, and camia.
Our Inspiration
We wanted the label to match the care and artistry that went into every bottle. We drew inspiration from three things: The illustrated edition of Flora de Filipinas, an anthology of Philippine flora by Francisco Manuel Blanco, and Letras y Figuras. This was a genre of painting pioneered by Jose Honorato Lozano, a Filipino painter born in 1815.
We worked closely with Matthew for two years. From choosing the right bottle to coordinating with printers abroad, we immersed ourselves fully in this process just to create a label we ourselves could be proud of.
We began with the custom logotype: A strong and robust serif that became the canvas for our scenes. We illustrated each letter of the word ‘Archipelago’ to depict the process of gin-making from harvest to drinking. No letterform is the same.
The label is rendered in the style of cross-hatching and engraving, an illustration technique commonly used in paper currency.
ARC today
ARC went on to win back-to-back honors at the 2019 World Gin Awards. It won Best Contemporary Style Gin for ARC Botanical Gin and the Best Matured Gin for their oak-aged ARC Barrel Reserve Gin. It is currently a staple for Philippine mixologists and can be purchased online through their website and other retailers.
That same year, we submitted the identity to Adobo Design Awards where it won Gold and Silver for best Typography and Identity respectively.
