Il Genio

How do you pay tribute to one of the world’s best-known artists without resorting to clichés? The designers at Officina Grafica solved the challenge by going back to the source—the artist’s hands—and materials that celebrate the tactile.

To mark the 500th anniversary of local son Leonardo di Vinci’s death, Florence’s Officina Grafica collaborated with winery Cantine Leonardo Da Vinci and materials innovators including Avery Dennison on an extraordinary package for a commemorative wine fittingly named Il Genio, or “The Genius.” 

The creatives at Officina Grafica describe the thinking behind the motif:

“From the beginning, we imagined Leonardo as a kid on the hills around Vinci, or in his youth, studying under Andrea Verrocchio, or grown-up, in Romagna. Every single time, we could clearly see his hands—exploring his homeland, holding a paintbrush, or turning the pages of a codex. We saw a connection between his hands, the hands of the winemakers that grow the grapes, and finally the hands of the wine-lover opening the bottle.”

Officina Grafica’s designers chose Fasson Fibers Look FSC as the stock with the proper mix of shelf appeal, performance, and tactile qualities to bring their tribute to life.

Consumers buying the wine are invited to use their hands to discover the contents hidden within the fold-out label, whose borders are hand-torn, and which is secured by a suede string that must be untied to reveal the contents. The manual efforts are rewarded with the reproduction of Leonardo’s Study of Hands exquisitely stamped in Leonhard Kurz gold foil.

According to Officina Grafica, “The final result is a mysterious package where a sober elegance and contemporary minimalism melt together and generate a deep balance.” Leonardo would approve.