CATERVA GIN – London Dry Gin

CATERVA GIN — London Dry Gin

ABOUT

CATERVA is a London Dry Gin born in Córdoba, Argentina, inspired by Caterva, the 1937 novel by Juan Filloy.

The book follows seven wandering men who travel across Argentina by freight trains, bound not by destination but by conversation. Intellectuals, outsiders, critics of their time, they move together through landscapes and ideas — discussing politics, ethics, art, love, and the contradictions of modern life.

CATERVA translates this literary universe into a spirit conceived as a collective experience. A gin rooted in place, history, and dissent — where identity is built through movement and shared thought rather than individual heroism.

It is not a solitary drink.
It is a plural one.

CONCEPT

The creative direction takes Filloy’s narrative as a structural foundation.

The seven characters of Caterva become seven figures walking along railway tracks — a visual metaphor for ideological displacement, persistence, and collective journey. The railway is not romanticized; it is functional, rough, and symbolic of progress without spectacle.

The design system draws from early 20th-century Argentine print culture, railway documentation, seals, and tickets. Typography, illustration, and composition echo archival materials, treating the label as a document rather than a decorative surface.

Front and back labels work as complementary chapters:

• the front presents the group in motion;
• the back unfolds as a cartographic record — a map that situates Córdoba within a wider symbolic territory.

SOLUTION

Every material and graphic decision reinforces the narrative of travel and resistance:

• A solid, square glass bottle, stable and unadorned.
• A natural cork with a wooden cap, referencing utilitarian craftsmanship.
• Engraved-style illustration inspired by period etchings.
• A restrained blue and gold palette, recalling official documents and railway insignia.
• A back label designed as a railway map, turning geography into story.

The result is a packaging system that feels archival rather than promotional — an object that could have existed decades ago, yet remains unmistakably contemporary.

RESULT

CATERVA is positioned not as a luxury gin, but as a cultural artifact.

A spirit distilled for those who move together, who think critically, and who understand that meaning is forged through shared paths rather than fixed destinations.

It doesn’t seek attention on the shelf.
It seeks continuity.

CATERVA turns packaging into narrative, literature into matter, and gin into a quiet declaration of dissent.

A journey without time. A collective spirit.