Building resilience

Story by Lori-Ellen Grant. Photograph by Jason Porter.

The word ‘resilient’ comes from the Latin resiliens meaning ‘to rebound, recoil’ and salire ‘to jump, leap.’ This etymology connotes movement, what I have come to define as ‘the act of bouncing back.’ But what does being resilient actually look like? How do we act? And where is the place for accepting what has happened – integration without denial – and moving forward?

Experiences, both good and bad, can become imprinted on our senses, by a smell, a city, a song. Our memories are often triggered by these small things and can elicit the most pleasant of sensations, or painful reminders. It seems when a difficult experience is unresolved, then we relive the pain and shock over and over again. Yet when it is integrated into who we are, we have accepted it as part of the course of our life.

My friend Angie passed away last year. She lived with her partner Greg on Kangaroo Island (KI) and was one of the most joyful people I think I’ve ever known. With an infectious laugh, she simply had a way about her. Her approach to life was creative, fun, simple and loved by our children. Straight away she’d be down on the floor with them drawing or setting them up on the rocking horse, showing them her latest shell collection or patting the dogs, Buddha and Bear.

She had cancer, which had come and gone and she’d tried many things to heal. Yet in the end she was happy. In dying, she made many conscious choices about what to focus on and how she would spend her days. She was in pain, but in her way she quietly taught through example. Enjoying life can take a little or a lot of work; our minds need training, just like our muscles. And we can become what we think most about. It’s inevitable that, at some point in our lives, we will experience pain. It might be physical, emotional, psychological, existential. Crisis, trauma and shock can lead us to respond in different ways, as we have seen in the last few months with the bushfire crisis both nationally and locally in the Adelaide Hills and on KI. The devastation brought by the fires has galvanised the human spirit and spurred people to action, from the volunteer firefighters putting in hours at the front, to those coming along afterwards: building fences, planting trees, donating money, nursing wildlife or sewing marsupial pouches.

Christchurch, Adelaide’s sister city, was my home for ten years and I was living there in 2011 when a major earthquake destroyed much of the city, killing almost two-hundred people. There were around 10,000 earthquakes the year following and much of the CBD was closed for six months, deemed too dangerous to enter.

I found peoples’ response to this natural disaster overwhelmingly generous and creative in many ways. The intensity of the experience gave us the opportunity to tap into what was really important, what we truly valued and how we wanted to act. Human generosity was palpable. It was seen and felt and acted upon. People gave and people received and everyone felt better for it. Community was strengthened. Yes, there were looters and scammers. But there was also the opportunity to see the silver lining and each person could truly choose how they wanted to respond.

At times of crisis one can often see that even though things aren’t good, it could be worse. Context can help to generate gratitude; we can be grateful for what we do have rather than focusing on what we don’t. This is not to make light of loss – loss of life, home, livelihoods, environment – more to acknowledge that at some point we must move on, we must choose to bounce back, to be resilient. And, we must take responsibility for what we focus on, making choices that take us in the direction that we want to go. Hopefully, to feel good again.

For 25 years, Bennett Design Architect has been creating beautifully tailored, sustainable, award winning solutions. By drawing inspiration from nature, we pride ourselves on designs and material selections which coexist harmoniously with the surrounding land. Using this method, we work closely with our public and private clients to produce designs for a range of applications including wineries, homes and everything in between.

Bennett Design Architect Pty Ltd · 107 Main Road McLaren Vale SA 5171 · (08) 8323 7737 · contact@bennettdesign.com.au

EXPERIENCE A BESPOKE WEDDING VENUE

WEDDINGS · ACCOMMODATION · FUNCTIONS

DESIGN BEHIND THE WINE Hither & Yon Connection by design

Story by Kate Le Gallez.

Above: The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon by Adelaide illustrator Chris Edser.

The conjunction is grammar’s workhorse. These humble ands, buts and ors litter our daily interactions, carrying us tirelessly from one thought to another. Richard and Malcolm Leask, the brothers behind winery Hither & Yon, see the beauty in these myriad connections.

It’s essential to how they see their roles as growers and makers, as facilitators of a lifecycle that begins in the vineyard and continues through to glass in hand. This continuity is reflected in the ampersand’s curves – the stand in for the conjunction at the centre of their winery’s name – and it’s become the central way they tell their story through design.

From the very first wines released in 2012, the ampersand has been the defining feature of the winery’s packaging. It sits front and centre while the hero words of the name appear, ironically, here and there in each iteration. The overall design is conceptually simple, but in a veritable forest of wine options, a Hither & Yon bottle stands out as a rare specimen, thanks to the decision to invite a different artist to create their own interpretation of the symbol for each new label. That process of interpretation makes the design of each label meaningful; it’s not design for design’s sake. ‘It has to represent something that tells a story about where something comes from or why we’ve made it in a certain way,’ says Malcolm. For viticulturist Richard, he sees the vineyard’s stories carried through to the end product in an engaging way. ‘Most labels don’t give you a sense of the wine. They tell you the vintage, the variety, who made it, but not how it will make you feel. That’s what I love about Hither & Yon. It might not be obvious at the start, but I like to think at the end people can look at the label and see how it reflects the feel of the wine,’ he says.

Richard and Malcolm have collaborated on their labels and overall branding strategy with Adelaide design firm Voice from the very beginning. The decision to work with Voice came down to a gut feeling for Malcolm, whose interest was piqued after he saw founders Scott Carslake and Anthony De Leo present at a seminar. ‘I didn’t talk to anyone else. Sometimes it’s that immediate attraction you have with people,’ says Malcolm.

It’s certainly paid off. ‘The working relationship is one of complete transparency, trust and learning – to all be better at what we all do, grow our businesses together and as people along the way,’ says Anthony. This shared professional respect means they can have >

Above: The floral and cherry aromas of the Grenache Touriga triggered nostalgic memories of dreamy afternoons and plans for spring picnics. In Turkish embroidery artist Defne Güntürkün’s imagining, the ampersand is adorned with tiny hand-stitched flowers and foliage that coalesce to create a sense of delight.

‘Most labels don’t give you a sense of the wine. They tell you the vintage, the variety, who made it, but not how it will make you feel. That’s what I love about Hither & Yon.’

the robust conversations fundamental to creating great work. ‘Have we ever disagreed on artists with the agency? All the time,’ says Malcolm. ‘Friction is good.’

The strong relationship between winery and designer comes to bear in perhaps the most critical part of the design process for each label: finding the right artist. Led by Hither & Yon’s philosophy, the process begins in the vineyard. At the time of writing, a new label is in the works and while vintage hasn’t yet begun, Malcolm is already cataloguing the lead up, mentally tucking away the factors that will play out in the final product. The next round of mental notes are added as they taste the fruit. Then, once the wine is made, Malcolm and Richard taste it together with members of their team, including cellar door, media and tourism manager Juliette Sirieys and brand manager Yan Ni to create a brief for Voice. This covers the usual wine particulars of variety, how it smells, how it tastes. But over the years the critical question has become about the feeling that comes with tasting the wine: where does this wine take you? It’s not necessarily a deep, existential answer they’re looking for. Take the 2019 Carignan, which they affectionately call the ‘caravan wine,’ because it feels like the sort of wine you’d enjoy on the side of a dirt road. Once the brief is in Voice’s hands, they work with Malcolm to break it down further to identify one aspect that makes the wine special. ‘It’s really important this is a relatable aspect that is authentic, and from that, generally a visual direction will start to take shape,’ explains Anthony. This characteristic guides Voice’s global search for an artist and from a shortlist of three potential artists, they collaboratively decide who to approach.

For the Carignan it was about capturing Hither & Yon’s playful Australian spin on the French/Spanish variety. The artwork, by Spanish artist Mariano Pascual, does represent the literal interpretation of the wine, with plump summer berries atop the ampersand and biscuits dipping into its side. But it’s the sense of joy and fun that characterises the label. This is a laid-back carignan made for spontaneous roadside pit stops.

Above left: Defne’s finished artwork on the bottle. Photo by Charlotte Nicholson. Above right: 2019 McLaren Vale Bushing Monarchs Richard and Malcolm Leask in their Willunga cellar door. Photo by Heidi Lewis.

The overall design is conceptually simple, but in a veritable forest of wine options, a Hither & Yon bottle stands out as a rare specimen.

The 2019 Grenache Touriga has an altogether different feel. The floral and cherry aromas triggered nostalgic memories of dreamy afternoons and plans for spring picnics. In Turkish embroidery artist Defne Güntürkün’s imagining, the ampersand is adorned with tiny hand-stitched flowers and foliage that coalesce to create a sense of delight. The physical work now lives in Hither & Yon’s cellar door, with its digital twin adorning the label.

Choosing a favourite design is like choosing a favourite child. Anthony nominates the 2012 Shiraz Cabernet, by Sydney-sider Luke Lucas. Malcolm starts with their first label, then lists a couple of others before settling on his ‘current’ favourite, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon by Adelaide illustrator Chris Edser. The differing views point to a unique marketing problem: the labels are memorable but customers struggle to recall the wine variety and sometimes even the winery’s name. ‘It’s really only in the last two years that people are recognising the brand as Hither & Yon rather than the brand that has the ampersand on the label,’ says Malcolm. No doubt this is helped along by their crowning as 2019 McLaren Vale Bushing Monarchs.

Despite this, Malcolm is confident they made the right decision with the packaging design. In short: it’s worth the risk to tell their story the way they want to. The payoff has been a very engaged community and a natural affinity with other makers, whether in arts, music or fashion including their collaboration with The Porch Sessions and their role as wine partner for SALA 2020 as they celebrate their thirtieth label.

These connections expand the Hither & Yon lifecycle from vineyard to bottle and into the community. ‘The whole reason we do these things is to engage with people. It’s all about contact and feedback,’ says Richard. ‘It’s this feeling of community that we love being a part of.’