Design Case Study | Backbar Studio’s design for Two Shores rum

February 6, 2024

‘Two Shores Limited edition’ is an ultra-premium rum produced in Panama, on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, and then aged in selected oak barrels on the west coast of Ireland in order to develop its unique character and its incredible flavour. Its squat bottle is reminiscent of old-style rum bottles, while its arresting and powerful gold-rich labels, simulate the texture of gold veins depicting not only the coastal topography but also the depths and the darkness of the ocean waves.

Tell us a bit about the brand – its heritage, its story, and its markets – and the brief for this project. How does the design express the brand’s values? What inspired the design?

At Backbar Studios we love a design challenge and when we were asked to re-imagine and re-develop our previous design concept to celebrate and elevate the limited edition of a premium range, this was indeed a challenge. A fantastic brand opportunity to indulge in restraint luxury and brand refinement. Following on from the award-winning bespoke and artistic approach taken with ‘Two Shores, a premium golden rum’, this was now an opportunity to explore some extra layering of gold within the illustrations, reflective of even greater depths of flavour, character, and this powerful oceanic theme. This extra layer of richness has the ability to elevate the already smart and beautiful range of bottles and labels to new heights of added luxury, befitting a series of limited edition premium products.

While experimenting with custom-created lustre inks, these beautiful and unique effects were developed to echo the ebb and flow of the two oceans and afford these textural labels a dynamic sense of movement. Each limited edition rum has its own bold colour variation, thereby creating a striking set of ultra-premium rum bottles. The re-design also features a new richer gold-edged dramatic tear, like a seam of molten gold running through the heavy paper label. This graphical concept tells the story of the oceanic divide and the rum’s journey across the two continents. Within the gold-edged tear are elements taken from the geographical coastlines of both Ireland and Panama. It is all these subtle details that complete and complement this story, and elevate an already beautiful rum to something truly befitting of its premium and limited edition pedigree.