Fussy Wines

Fussy Wines was a conceptual natural wine brand created as a response to the way outspoken and opinionated women are often labelled as “fussy.” Instead of rejecting the word, we reclaimed it — turning it into a symbol of strength, standards, and refusal to settle. The project combined natural wine culture, feminist activism, and community building into a bold brand universe inspired by the Riot Grrrl movement and feminist punk culture of the 1980s and 90s.

Together, we envisioned Fussy not just as a wine brand, but as a feminist platform and creative community space based in Florence, Italy. The concept centred around supporting women-led natural wineries in Tuscany while creating a physical environment where people could gather for workshops, tastings, discussions, exhibitions, and collaborative creative events.

The brand identity was heavily inspired by DIY punk aesthetics, zine culture, underground protest graphics, and raw, unfiltered visual storytelling. Rather than positioning wine as something exclusive or elitist, Fussy aimed to make wine culture more accessible, expressive, political, and community-driven.
One of the central ideas behind the project was transforming wine labels into removable mini-zines containing stories, interviews, thoughts, and commentary related to women, wine, creativity, and social issues. This concept was inspired by the important role zines played within feminist punk movements as tools for self-expression and community building.

In addition to the wine itself, the project included a broader ecosystem consisting of a creative print studio, a monthly publication called La Gallina Nera, workshops, feminist book clubs, spoken word evenings, and collaborative activism-focused events.
My role within the project focused on brand strategy, concept development, positioning, storytelling, and defining the wider cultural direction of the brand.

I developed the strategic foundation behind the concept — including the mission, tone of voice, target audience, community vision, activation ideas, and overall brand world.

Nike Vendela led the visual identity and design execution, translating the strategic concept into a distinctive visual language inspired by feminist punk graphics, DIY print culture, and contemporary natural wine branding.