Over the past 12 months, I’ve typically stated that AI-generated imagery is not the risk to handmade illustration you may assume it’s. However typically it is simpler to simply level to a stay instance. And this is a wholly fabulous one, within the type of Kingdom & Sparrow‘s work for Welsh glowing wine model Mydflower.
The temporary was textbook premium rebrand: elevate a rustic wine to compete within the glowing market, and talk its high quality with out dropping its folkloric appeal.
It is the type of undertaking during which some studios may attain for Midjourney, tweak some prompts about “mystical Welsh countryside”, and name it strategic. As an alternative, Kingdom & Sparrow, an company based mostly in Falmouth, Cornwall, responded with lino-cut type illustrations of hares, birds and wildflowers; the form of painstaking, conventional approach that takes precise talent and precise time.
To my thoughts, that makes good sense. As a result of in 2026, when you possibly can generate a thousand variations of “folkloric wine label” earlier than lunch, selecting to develop hand-drawn illustrations is not simply an aesthetic selection; it is a positioning assertion. And for Mydflower, it is proving to be the best one.
Craft nonetheless issues
The technical execution exhibits why craft nonetheless issues within the higher finish of the market. These lino-cut illustrations aren’t simply printed flat on the label; they’re embossed onto a customized neck cuff, with a golden solar embossed centrally on the bottle label. The elderflower and raspberry variants every function their respective botanicals surrounding that solar.
It is a design that understands the retail surroundings: that premium wines are purchased as a lot by contact as sight. A hand reaches for a bottle, feels that tactile high quality, and the mind makes an instantaneous worth judgment.
And that is exactly the place the “AI can do something” crowd tends to go quiet. Sure, you possibly can generate pictures. However are you able to artwork direct embossing? Do you perceive paper shares, ending strategies, and the way mild catches a debossed line? Kingdom & Sparrow clearly do, and it exhibits in work that would solely exist via understanding bodily supplies.
Folklore meets premium
The folklore angle itself deserves scrutiny. Welsh mythology is hardly unexplored territory; it is the type of branding territory the place issues can tip into “themed restaurant” vibes should you’re not cautious. However right here the studio navigates it with admirable restraint.
The illustrations are intricate with out being overwrought, folkloric with out being literal. Hares and wildflowers turn out to be elegant sample parts relatively than heavy-handed storytelling gadgets. The end result feels premium relatively than whimsical, which is exactly the needle Mydflower wanted to string.
What’s attention-grabbing, in the meantime, from a strategic perspective, is how the design solves a elementary model stress. Mydflower makes glowing wine from elderflowers and raspberries, infused with Welsh mountain spring water and Champagne yeast. It is concurrently making an attempt to be premium and different, conventional and distinctive.
Impressively, the visible id manages to carry each concepts. The craft execution and embossing strategies sign high quality and justify premium pricing, whereas the people illustration type and nature motifs differentiate it from standard glowing wines.
Key takeaway
For creatives swept up within the AI debate, there is a broader lesson right here. The query is not whether or not algorithmic instruments can generate ample work (they’ll). It is whether or not “ample” is the place you need to place your self or your purchasers.
Kingdom & Sparrow is successfully promoting the other of effectivity right here. They’re promoting the seen proof of human time, talent and decision-making. And crucially, they’re discovering purchasers who’re prepared to pay for it.
This is not Luddism; it is market positioning. In a class more and more flooded with AI-generated content material, hand-crafted work stands out not regardless of being slower and dearer, however due to it. The economics of premium items have all the time rewarded shortage and visual craft. A design studio that may reveal each (and has a group educated in conventional image-making and typography) has a defensible market place.
The Mydflower undertaking additionally highlights one thing the design press typically misses: the significance of regional artistic ecosystems. Falmouth is not London, however its college produces graduates with explicit abilities, and studios like Kingdom & Sparrow are constructing practices round these capabilities. Meals, drink and life-style manufacturers swimsuit this method; they’re typically on the lookout for authenticity and craft tales that align with their merchandise.
Whether or not this scales is one other query. Hand-drawn illustration is inherently labour-intensive. However for studios working within the premium sector, that is relatively the purpose. You are not promoting scalability. You are promoting the factor that somebody with a subscription and an honest immediate cannot simply replicate.
Consequently, I imagine that as artistic automation turns into ubiquitous, the business worth of demonstrable human craft will enhance. Actually, Kingdom & Sparrow’s branding right here means that some purchasers are actively searching for design that appears and feels handmade. The problem for creatives is whether or not they have the talents to ship it.
