Krutoyar whiskey brand platform, identity and label
Krutoyar is the first Russian whiskey brand that doesn’t try to imitate foreign counterparts but instead emphasizes its national identity. Art. Lebedev Studio fully prepared the brand for market launch, developing the brand platform, creating the identity and designing the bottle label.
The positioning is built around the historical significance of Krutoyar Island in the northwest of the country. Its sacred meaning is embodied by a real object, a spiral labyrinth, which becomes the brand’s metaphor: passing through the labyrinth was once a ritual for sailors before setting out to sea as a way to focus and test each other’s endurance.
Today, whiskey brings together partners and friends at the table as a shared ritual, testing their endurance just like the labyrinth once did.
The brand identity consists of two independent elements: the wordmark and the emblem.
The wordmark is a tightly composed typographic structure with emphasis on the central letter T, which resembles a ship’s bow pointing toward the viewer. The typeface’s serifs evoke anchor hooks and give the letters a distinctive character.
The emblem embodies both the brand’s metaphor—the labyrinth—and its archetype, a warrior-sage, keeper of secret knowledge. It also unites all of this in a fingerprint, serving as a signature. Hidden within are the letters К and Я.
The label design seamlessly extends the brand identity and is complemented by a cross in the colors of the Russian flag. This cross evokes the St. Andrew’s flag and reflects Krutoyar’s maritime spirit.
