Caroline Bryant
Features Editor
As a junior brainstorming ideas for her graphic design senior thesis, Berberette knew she wanted to do something that stood out, something “that everyone else wasn’t doing.”
Tasked to build a brand, Berberette went to her professor for support. After bouncing ideas back and forth, her professor suggested that she’d include her unique last name in the brand’s name. His suggestion inspired Bourbonette.
Fast forward to her senior year and with $1200 saved up later, the brand was born. Her rough draft featured little alcohol labels and magazine snip-its “just for her portfolio”. But after researching the industry, Berberette decided to expand the brand into a life-like product.
Now, Bourbonette evolved into a high-end prototype bourbon brand catered towards women. Fruity flavors like Plum Smash and Rusty Rose are carefully packaged in vintage neutral-colored floral-patterned boxes.
“If you look at bourbon branding in general, it’s very heavily based towards men, it has a really blocky design,” Berberette said. “And I know a lot of women who enjoy bourbon but would like to see a little bit more feminine design towards it.”
While its packaging and Instagram follow the light and airy “clean girl” aesthetic trending in women’s beauty and fashion, her main goal was to make a feminine brand for all.
“We have a more feminine color palette, but not a girly color palette, so no super pink or super bright,” Berberette said. “It’s very neutral feminine because I didn’t want it to be leaning into stereotypes or girls and women in general and I wanted it to be pretty accessible to all genders, too, but more leaning towards women.”
And out of seven other competitors, her brand was crowned the best. The first-place prize awarded her $300.
“I was definitely hoping, but I didn’t expect it,” Berberette said. “Throughout my process, I like to keep a humble mind. I know I had put a lot of effort towards it and people have come up to me when I won and stuff, but I didn’t want to lean into that until it actually happened, and I was still surprised and shocked that I did win. But, I put a lot of time and effort in, so I think it was well deserved on my behalf.”
The brand has the potential to become a reality after graduation. Bourbonette was so well received at her senior show that many recommended her to local breweries, such as Swan Brewing. When she utilizes the opportunity, she plans to discuss how to get connected with distilleries and get a deeper insight into the bourbon industry.
“Originally it was just for the project and I really didn’t think it would go anywhere in terms of trying to expand it after college,” she Berberette said. “But I’ve had a lot of people suggest or direct me to distillers or people in Lakeland that could potentially help me start it up. So, I think I might be going to the business building at some point and pitching it.”
It’s not something she’s willing to give up on yet because she enjoyed watching Bourbonette come to life.
“It was very stressful at times,” she said. “But sometimes I had to step back and ground myself. I think doing the photoshoots and really seeing everything come together made me have more fun. I think if you’re designing something you need to have fun with it or else you’re not going to like it, you’re going to get bored, and you’re going to hate it. So I had to make sure that I was grounding myself throughout the process so I could look back and really enjoy what I did.”
Something that started as a clever play on words could be on store shelves very soon.
