Innovative drinks brand Most Wanted Wines have just launched the very first “Most Wanted Collective” last month. The Collective is five artists who were each given a wine label as a canvas to express themselves freely. The aim was to celebrate diversity and open up conversations around gender, race, accessibility and inclusivity.
Launched in 2015 by Cheltenham-based distributor and brand owner Off-Piste Wines, Most Wanted Wines aims to democratise the wine world by sourcing and making available the world’s most wanted wines. Their range is now twenty wines in a variety of formats including the popular Rosé de Provence and Barossa Valley Shiraz. Always looking to innovate, in 2017 Most Wanted was the first brand to successfully launch canned wine in multiple retailers, with Pinot Grigio and Pink Pinot Grigio Fizz cans now the market-leading canned wine brand in the UK.
artists who designed labels for Most Wanted Wines
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The five new Most Wanted Collective wines include Most Wanted Cabernet Sauvignon, Most Wanted Chardonnay, Most Wanted Malbec, Most Wanted Pinot Grigio and Most Wanted Shiraz. Each bottle is labelled with a story from one of the five artists: London based street artist, Jelly J; street artist duo, Nomad Clan; illustrator, Dorcas Magbadelo; painter, Chris Hawkes and DJ/ rapper /fashion designer, Pete Obsolete. Most Wanted is not new to the artworld. The brand has a series of unique collaborations, including Art Battle Manchester and Cheltenham Paint Festival. Most Wanted also makes a monthly donation to Creative Debuts’ Black Artist Grant, a no-strings-attached financial offering support to creatives from minority ethnic backgrounds who are systematically under-supported within the arts.
Most Wanted Wines
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Dorcas Magbadelo creates colorful, bold products inspired by her Nigerian heritage that celebrate Black women, including greeting cards, art prints and jewellery.
Jelly J is a London-based street artist known for her figurative paintings with iconic supersized eyelashes. Her vibrant murals can be found around the city as well as commissioned walls, restaurants and establishments.
Manchester artist Pete Obsolete describes his style as “creative illustration” and likes to combine lyrics, symbols, portraiture and patterns in his paintings, album covers, interior design for walls and murals and custom-designed sneakers.
Chris Hawkes’ work presents a highly feminine style as an act of rebellion against the machismo of painting. Figurative, abstract and autobiographical elements are blended with images lifted from art history and contemporary culture.
Nomad Clan is Cbloxx and AYLO, an internationally-acclaimed, street art muralist duo based in the North of England. When the pair collaborate, the fusion delivers an unmistakable style. Each mural has a strong significance to the environment it sits in and often their work is inspired by local history or folklore and often exposes socioeconomic issues – for example the demise of industry and lack of jobs and inner city social deprivation.
Most Wanted Wines has also released a series of short films, exclusively accessed via a QR code on each bottle. It’s a chance for customers to get closer to the artists, discovering their stories and truth from the makers themselves. Rachel Archer, at Most Wanted Wines said they wanted to provide “these artists a platform to freely tell their story on our labels – without labels.”
The Collective series is available in selected UK retailers plus limited edition prints of the label artwork are also available to buy on art platform, We Built This City.