Optimist Drinks’ asymmetrical botanical glass bottle celebrates Los Angeles and human imperfection

12 Jan 2021 --- US-based Optimist Drinks is debuting a family of non-alcoholic botanical spirits in glass bottles for the US market.

The bottles have an asymmetrical, sloped base, symbolizing that “everyone is imperfect or a little off-balance on the inside.”

Meanwhile, the bottle’s color palette and embossed glass shoulders are a tribute to the brand’s Los Angeles (LA) roots. 

“LA is a city that looks forward, not back. It’s a city of pioneers, creation and invention,” Optimist co-founder Lisa Farr Johnstone tells PackagingInsights.

“Our bottle pays homage to more traditional spirits bottles, acknowledges the simplicity and functionality of LA’s mid-century modern/Bauhaus-inspired movement, but adds more contemporary elements.”

The bottle’s shoulders have raised lettering like a tattooed collar, paying homage to LA’s “ink” scene.The technical challenges of imperfection
The message behind the Optimist Drinks’ slanted base – “we are all imperfect and optimists in progress” – may be romantic, but many glassmakers refused the project due to the sizable technical challenges.

Ultimately, Optimist Drinks found a boutique partner specialized in high-end perfume bottles who thought the botanical brand was “crazy” for deliberately seeking imperfection.

“We had to help them overcome their aesthetic need for absolute symmetry and uniformity,” Johnstone explains. “The production challenge of having liquid glass setting at an angle is significant, but we are thrilled with what has been achieved.”

Inspired by the City of Angels
Optimist Drinks collaborated with Netherlands-based agency ForPeople on its brand identity, as well as Bottle Design and Nic Taylor at Thunderwing Studio to create a brand that “celebrates its Los Angeles roots.”

“The flavor profiles and accompanying colors were inspired by the varied landscapes of the incredibly diverse city: the verdant, lush canyons, the salt-water sprayed coastlin, and the drier, otherworldliness of the High Desert,” Johnstone details.

Above all, the brand set out to capture the quality of the LA light in the late afternoon and early evening, she continues. “Colors are rich and slightly softened. Magic hour. The front label is straightforward, clear in its communication.”

The brand’s labels exhibit a restrained layout partly inspired by Bauhaus principles and LA’s mid-century typography.A focus on mental health
The COVID-19 pandemic’s movement restrictions and social distancing requirements have brought a sharper awareness of mental health to the fore. 

When asked why consumers would be interested in a novel-looking bottle rather than something more familiar during these times of uncertainty, Johnstone says: “We cannot bury our heads in nostalgia anymore.” 

“2020 and all the craziness it has brought has forced people to open their eyes and face up to our current situation – be that environmentally, societally, politically.” 

“People are ready to embrace new ways of doing things, new behaviors, new ideas. We are all ‘in progress.’”

Low and non-alcoholic beverages boom
Traditionally, alcoholic beverages have an indulgent reputation, but many drinks are getting a healthy makeover as alcohol attitudes shift. 

One critical shift is younger consumers, in particular, opting for low- and no-alcohol takes on spirits, beer and wine, with NPD keeping pace with these growing global demands. 

According to Innova Market Insights, China is the top country for consumers to purchase low- and no-alcohol options, with 28 percent of respondents to a 2018 survey saying they would typically buy these products on a grocery trip. 

Brazil, Mexico and Germany followed with 25, 19 and 18 percent respectively. Meanwhile, just 9 percent of UK consumers and 8 percent of US consumers are regularly purchasing low- and no-alcohol beverages. 

By Anni Schleicher