Designer Series

For Stemma Brewing Co.

TEAM: Variant
ROLE: Designer/Illustrator
YEAR: 2021-2022

One beer, one name, four designs.
The Designer Series from Stemma Brewing Company was a special-release can series created to celebrate beer and design. A beer name was chosen and given to 4 designers who each created their own label to represent it. The designs were then presented to the masses as a fun, eclectic 4-pack. I participated in the series twice. In 2021, the name was Fractured Universe. I decided to go literal with a vintage illustration envisioning what it might look like to stand alone at the edge of the galaxy, looking on helplessly as the universe collapses.

Stemma Designer Series - Fractured Universe

Stemma Brewing Company - Fractured Universe, Fresh Hop IPA

In 2022, the chosen name was Wave Propagator. I explored several ideas for this one but landed on an illustration based on the butterfly effect–the concept in chaos theory stating that small, seemingly insignificant changes in the initial conditions of a system can lead to unpredictable, and often massive outcomes over time. Here we see how the slightest gust of wind created by the gentle flap of a butterfly’s wings as it quietly nurses nectar in a mountain meadow can build upon itself until it becomes a raging gale on the high seas across the world.