Profile: Burial Brewery Label Designer David Paul Seymour

ftk (47)in #beersaturday • 7 years ago (edited)

For those not familiar with the Asheville North Carolina craft brewery scene the small city of roughly 90,000 boasts 26 breweries within city limits and a monstrous 60 in the surrounding area. Beer mecca perhaps? Out of that pool one brewery stands above the rest: Burial ,for quality & aesthetics combined.

Enter David Paul Seymour a Mississippi born and bred illustrator and graphic designer responsible for the iconic design work on Burials "metal as fuck" packaging. David got his start illustrating and designing tees & ephemera for metal bands & skate companies perfecting his signature elaborate dark style. It was that hard edge that caught the eye of Tim Gormley the head brewer at Burial.

In an interview with Hop Culture David says "Tim, the brewer at Burial, was following my Instagram feed for a while and was really into the artwork I was doing for heavy bands. He really dug it. I guess right about that time those guys at Burial began ramping up to make a move from a taproom to canning and bottling beer. They were looking for someone to create a look from the ground floor."

That look is part of what sets Burial apart from the enormous Asheville crowd and has helped them make a forray into regional distribution.

^{Gang Of Blades

Style: American Double / Imperial IPA

Alcohol by volume (ABV): 8.30%}

^{Bolo

Style: American Brown Ale

Alcohol by volume (ABV): 5.60%}
^{Haysaw

Style: Saison / Farmhouse Ale

Alcohol by volume (ABV): 7.00%}

^{Skillet Donut Stout

Style: Oatmeal Stout

Alcohol by volume (ABV): 8.00%}

David on the label illustrating process...

"The funny thing is that still to this day I don’t get to taste the beer until it’s all said and done. The artwork comes ahead of the canning. So anytime we’re working on something new it originates out of a concept before there’s any tasting."

This is especially interesting considering the process in which the labels make it on the can. They're inked onto translucent shrink which is then heat applied leaving behind only the art on the gleaming aluminum surface. The finished product is truly something of beauty.