I've Got 99 Bottles But The Brand Ain't One

French Visual Artist Fusing Wine And Brands In Tasteful Designs

Thomas Ollivier is an all-round creative person, self-taught and highly adept in fields of photography and visual art. His latest project, 99 Wine Bottles, has brought together two unseemly bedfellows: wine and brands. Sticking the visual signs that clutter city streets and bombard billboards all over the developed world on to wine bottles seems an odd choice, though reminiscent of Warhol-esque pop art more than anything.

At the same time, there is a high aesthetic quality to the mockup graphics, with their bright pastel colours delectable to the eye. More interesting still is the differences between brands. The logo for Penguin Books stands next to Heinz; the Royal Mail next to Toys ‘R’ Us. It’s a strange mix, varied to boggle our brains. “I think each people will react differently based on their connection with the brands,” he affirms. With 99 bottles comes 99 different brands. Which ones can you recognise? And which ones have you forgotten?

The main question the London based artist asks for this series is, “what would happen if brands invaded wine making?” We could say that these images intend to disturb us, in a playful way, pointing at wine’s immunity to brands. Now that Tom has streaked the purity of wine with various commercial logos, the viewer is forced to re-wire their perceptions.

We caught up with Tom to find out more:

The Plus: What sparked the idea for this project?
Thomas Ollivier: The collision of the two worlds I am living in, the rural south of France and the busy advertising life in London.

TP: What was your creative process of thinking?
TO: I was interested in designing the bigger picture, to see how people will feel when scrolling through all those brands and colours.

TP: What’s your favourite wine?
TO: Domaine Matassa for the white, Clos du Rouge Gorge for the Red, and I have to mention the newcomer De Mena.