Creativity in Long Wines | Long Wines

Creativity in Long Wines

The Long Wines team has many strengths, and one that we are particularly proud of is our creativity, in coming up with new brands and packaging ideas for the wines that we represent. A key resource in the process of launching any new wine brands is William Long’s wife, Barbara. Barbara is a painter, sculptor, art therapist and teacher and, although behind the scenes as far as the Long Wines office is concerned, she is always involved in the packaging design process, with her creative insight and artistic vision ensuring successful launches.

Barbara currently has an exhibition on at one of Madrid’s leading galleries – Maternia y Herencia – next to the world-famous Prado Museum. Entitled “Reliquias” – “Relics” or “Heirlooms” – it represents an attempt to break the barriers between crafts and Art with a capital “A”, reviving and revisiting traditional handcrafts such as basket weaving and sewing to make minimalist pieces that are purely aesthetic rather than having practical uses.

As she comments: “I make my art reusing fragments of previous artworks, test pieces, pieces of cloth and things that I find in the chaos of my workshop and in the outside world: revisiting and revising, breaking and repairing, reprocessing and remaking, sewing and mending, ordering and cleaning, renewing and transforming, selecting and removing, reintegrating and containing, but above all, breathing new life into the old.”

Much of her work uses natural materials – this collection includes pieces made using willow branches – and Barbara has used vine cuttings to weave baskets in the past.   The pieces evoke shells, fossils and chrysalises, vestigial forms elevated to iconic status to speak of the fragility of life, of the joy of creation, of the artistry in traditional crafts, much like the winemaking traditions found across Spain.