Vermouth Field Guide - Distributed Design Platform

Useful information

Team members: Daphne Gerodimou Cesar Rodriguez
Country: Spain
Keywords: vermouth vermut hyperlocal-hyperglobal distributed design home making instructional community based knowledge sharing

Short Description

The Vermouth Field Guide creates a platform for making vermouth with local ingredients.

Detailed Description

The Vermouth Field Guide pulls back the veil of secrecy around this ancient aperitif to create an open-source distributed global network of individuals passionate about all things vermouth. With its history painted by knowledge and material trade along the silk road, vermouth could very well be considered the original “hyper global / hyper local” drink.

Our mission is to build a community which shares knowledge globally resulting in vermouths being made from local resources like herbs and spices endemic to a region.

The project manifests itself in three parts; a web-based knowledge sharing platform in which individuals can upload their own recipes, a graphic how-to guide with directions and tips, and bespoke toolkits which are purpose built as to not duplicate supplies already in your kitchen.

We hope that by introducing hobbyists to the world vermouth, we can encourage knowledge sharing which emphasises the importance of sharing insights globally while producing locally.

Project Details

Does your design take social and cultural challenges and human wellbeing into consideration?: Vermouth is a drink shared amongst friends and typically outside the home- the absence of which (physical sharing) has affected all of our mental health in the past year. Our project takes into account the pandemic-driven shift toward making in the home. By sharing knowledge, we hope to encourage people to explore their local ingredients and experiment in the home with a drink traditionally enjoyed outside of it. In this way, we’re looking to re-claim a sense of community and resilience felt around sharing a vermouth with friends and thus improve our mental health through building community -digitally and physically.

Does your design support sustainable production, embodying circular or regenerative design practices?: The Vermouth Field-guide supports global knowledge sharing and local resource use. Through the online platform, individuals are able to share knowledge such as potentials for food-waste such as coffee, cacao shells, or citrus peels to be used in the making of vermouth. We are also currently experimenting with using waste from olives (a typical pairing with vermouth) within our packaging design.

Does your design use principles of distribution and open source?: Our project is the embodiment of distributed design principles- allowing for open source and community driven knowledge sharing, while encouraging manufacturing and experimentation to happen on the local scale and using local ingredients.

Does your design promote awareness of responsible design and consumption?: In creating kits for people to get started making vermouth, we noticed quickly that much of the equipment are things most people already have in their homes. For this reason, we have opted to design bespoke equipment kits in which individuals can choose exactly what they need to get started, so as to not bring additional waste into the world. While this model may be less profitable, ultimately it is a more responsible and environmentally friendly form of consumption.