Braastad XO Contemporary
Snøhetta, in collaboration with Norwegian musician and artist, Magne Furuholmen, designed the latest Braastad XO Contemporary cognac bottle and packaging. This limited edition piece employs a design and color scheme rarely associated with this type of beverage. The duo aims to create a contemporary expression that strengthens the Braastad brand.
Braastad XO Contemporary challenges artists to create a visual expression of what inspires them from the world for Cognac. The craftsmanship and heritage of the Norwegian Braastad family in the historic business of Cognac production inspired Furuholmen’s art piece. Based on two limited edition prints made especially for this project, the letters used in the design make up the words “XO” and “Contemporary”. Snøhetta’s graphic designers worked with Furuholmen’s prints to re-imagine both the bottle and box into a playful and unique design, bringing a new expression to a traditional beverage.
The underlying design concept was to let the minimal and reduced visual language of contemporary art and the expressive handmade letters meet the old-fashioned world of Cognac. Snøhetta kept the high-end feel, but adds an element of Scandinavian cool to a classical French product. The resulting design puts the beautiful amber-colored spirit in the spotlight through the transparent printed label. A light beige color was chosen for the packaging leaving just enough contrast for the white and silver letters to be readable, playing with the subtle difference between matte silver and mirrored foil. One might say, the solution simply made the XO contemporary.
