GBD's New Identity

We’re feeling all fresh and new for the Spring and coming Summer with a developing vision of where Granny’s Bottom Drawer is going next and an all new shopfront and identity. This is a little piece on the thinking behind the identity.

The logo of the wild goose in flight was especially commissioned from a local artist. The Flight of the Wild Geese in historical terms was the departure of the Irish army and families to France in 1691 after the defeat to William at the Battle of the Boyne. The term became associated with all the Irish who left to join foreign armies in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, including the exiles after the Battle of Kinsale in 1601.

A good number of the exiles to France ended up in the wine trade in and around Bordeaux, The Loire and Cognac (see Hennessy, Lynch and Barton). They gave themselves or were given the soubriquet ‘the Wine Geese’. Again, Kinsale played a part. It was designated a Wine Port in 1412 to supply the precursor of the Royal Navy and traded between Ireland, England and France for many, many years. In celebration of these extraordinary stories, an International Museum of Wine was established in Desmond Castle in the centre of town and is a must-see.

The wild goose in flight is also a subliminal message coming from the bogs, loughs and mountains of the West; the landscape that inspires Granny’s Bottom Drawer.

We bought a new font to cement the identity. Rather than a modern, urban sans we went for a serif font, Cala, that is more hand-crafted and feminine but also open, clear and self-assured.

Finally, we went full-on sophisticated with a deep charcoal across the whole shopfront, excepting the window frames, that copy the off-white of the signage. The shop is now much better separated from the multi-coloured walls around and the shop window displays are the clear focal point.

There’s only one thing missing, and that’s you. Come and see us over Summer, say hello and head away with something iconic from the West.