PKN: Right at the beginning of your career, what made you set off on the path that would eventually lead to The Collective?
Rowena Curlewis: My career in design first began at Lewis Kahn Staniford (now Landor) where I had the good fortune to be put on the Southcorp Wines account as an account manager. I loved wine packaging from the very beginning: the brands, the product, the passion of the people working in the industry, and the creative scope.
PKN: What made you begin The Collective and what were the key things that you took with you when you started?
RC: It is very rare that you find a business partner whose creativity astounds you every time, whose values are the same as yours, and who motivates you to achieve greater goals than you ever imagined possible. I was exceptionally lucky to work with Margaret Nolan before we started the business, and we both recognised that together we could create an inspiring business for our clients to work with, our staff to work for and ourselves to work within.
We wanted to create a dynamic, streamlined new model for a design business with no rigid hierarchical company structure, but rather a pool of talent and experience. Margaret brought to the space her collection of contemporary art so that everyone in the business could be stimulated by the sometimes beautiful, and sometimes challenging pieces.
PKN: What did you leave behind?
RC: We left behind our experience in other design categories that we did enjoy working on, namely corporate identities and property work. However, with only two of us at the beginning, we had to be very focused on sticking to our business plan and that was to specialise in wine.
PKN: Why wine?
RC: The decision to specialise was very easy, given the collective drinks experience of both Margaret and myself. Margaret had worked at drinks powerhouse, Lewis Moberly, in London for seven years, and had also collected another seven years' experience in Australian drinks packaging. Combined with my experience in wine, we knew we could offer our clients a very senior level of service and design. To top it off, wine was the industry that we both not only understood, but also loved. Our first wine project was to redesign the iconic Penfolds Bin range and from there on we have had the pleasure of working with all types of wine brands – luxury, boutique, global, mass market, value, quirky, Australian, French, Spanish, New Zealand, you name it…
PKN: What changes have you seen in the wine/alcohol industry itself as well as in design/packaging?
RC: There are two interesting movements in the wine industry, especially over the past five years. The first is the recognition by both marketers and consumers that wine can be a luxury purchase and therefore some brands should be treated as luxury brands. Our work with the Penfolds Ampoule Project, which sold for $168,000 per unit, shows how far wines have come in terms of their luxury status globally.
The second has been the development of the European sector, aided of course by the strong Australian dollar. Australians generally have a very sophisticated palate and a confidence to try new things, so they will explore regions outside of Australia. We have designed some of these brands specifically for the Australian market including, Le Chat Noir and Elefante, and these have been extremely successful for our client Fourth Wave Wine.
In terms of packaging design, clients seem to be becoming braver with the changes they are making to brands - recognising where there are weaknesses and moving much faster to correct them. Robert Oatley Signature Series was completely revolutionised in 2012, and sales have increased 400% since the new packaging hit the stores.
PKN: What changes in packaging and packaging design for wine would you like to see?
RC: A continued growth of individuality in branding would be great. Whilst there has been less “me too” label design of late, I’d like to see wine packaging continue on its journey of becoming more unique and confident in its own individuality.
PKN: What kicks off your design process? What are they key triggers for your ideas?
RC: We spend a lot of time letting under the skin of the brand and the story behind it. We ask our clients many, many questions and do quite a bit of research whilst developing our reverse brief. We make sure that the task is clearly defined, and our reverse brief is agreed upon by the client before we even begin the design process. For us, the key trigger for an idea is starting with the problem. When we brief the designers we always push them to think laterally about the problem at hand; this really sparks them to do fantastic things.
PKN: What are you most proud of and/ or what are your greatest professional and personal achievements?
RC: Aside from our design work, I am very proud of the reputation in the drinks industry that we have established: the amount of repeat business and the number of recommendations we receive from our clients and supply partners is fantastic. I guess, too, the fact that we have never done a new business drive speaks volumes about the way we run our business.
From a personal perspective, I am immensely proud of the team at The Collective. They are a hard working, loyal, humorous and talented bunch who all collectively pitch in and help when help is needed.
Look Upstairs, April 2-4 2014, is the landmark event for Melbourne International Design Week bringing together the largest gathering of international design leaders ever seen in Australia. Presented by agIdeas in association with Arts Centre Melbourne, 41 speakers from 20 nations will provide their insight and experience on how design is explored, developed and interpreted from all corners of the world.
The event is for anyone interested in expanding their design knowledge and exploring new creative possibilities in design innovation and excellence across various design and creative disciplines. It has been curated by Ken Cato AO, Founder of agIdeas and Executive Creative Director of Cato Brand Partners
