Weekend art apéritif, anyone? Pour a tipple and tuck into our latest 5+5, featuring print picks from Haus co-founder Helena Price Hambrecht and a refreshing Q+A to follow. Hambrecht and her husband—a third-generation winemaker—dreamed up Haus on the hunt for a better sort of booze. Light, delicious, and low-ABV, Haus is a farm-to-bottle apéritif brand that bring all the flavor and fun of your favorite alcoholic beverages, with fewer hangovers. It’s easy to serve and all about longer sipping, really sitting down to enjoy a quiet moment or good company. If you’re fully vaxxed and ready to safely gather with friends for, say, a small backyard bbq, you’ve got a great Haus opportunity on your hands. (And may we suggest you freshen up those walls for the long-awaited return of at-home hangs?)
The couple made the first batches of their brew on their Sonoma County farm with fruit and botanicals harvested from their own land. While their business has grown exponentially since those early days, they still bring the same discerning taste and meticulousness to their line of imbibables: Michelin-caliber ingredients from farmers they know and trust; No artificial flavors, preservatives or other suss additives to look out for (unlike many of the mass-produced spirits on the market.) And the bottles? Beautifully designed. Sure, they look gorgeous on a bar cart, but they’re also eminently giftable—and you gotta love a gift that can be popped open and shared right away.
We figured anyone with such an eye for aesthetics and a love of entertaining has gotta have an interesting take on art. And we were right! See all of Hambrecht’s 20x200 print selects and read her interview below. Cheers!
— Team 20x200
5 Perfect Picks
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1) Floral Shade by Leah Giberson I grew up on the coast of North Carolina, and this piece brings up visceral memories of childhood. I know that lawn, that umbrella, and those chairs. |
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2) General Store Interior, Moundville, Alabama by Walker Evans As someone building a family business of my own, it’s really important to remember and appreciate what came before us. |
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3) The Ten Largest, No. 7, Adulthood, Group IV by Hilma af Klint I recently saw a TikTok explaining how Hilma af Klint was truly ahead of her time and did not get proper credit until much later. I, and I think many other female entrepreneurs, can certainly relate to this. |
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4) Mound of Butter by Antoine Vollon I mean, it’s simple: I love butter. It’s in or on basically everything I cook. Add a couple of fresh eggs from our chickens and this could be my kitchen at any moment. |
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5) BG-0004 by Bert Teunissen A long time ago I used to tour with bands as a photographer, and I got to see almost every state by car. This photo reminds me of when I saw the west coast for the first time and knew it was where I was supposed to live. |
5 Q's + 5 A's
1) What's your favorite museum?
I grew up in the rural south, so I didn’t have access to museums. In high school I had the Internet, and discovered the MoMA’s website. I spent hours and hours on that thing after school every day. It was my first exposure to art and design and changed my trajectory forever.
2) What's your most coveted coffee table book?
I have a signed copy of Dan Winters portraits that meant a lot to me when I got it in 2010. I still love his work as much as I did then.
3) Do you prefer a single statement piece or a salon wall?
Salon wall. More stories to tell!
4) You've got $5m you have to spend on one piece of art. What would it be?
I’d invest in an underrepresented artist to help put their name on the map.
5) In a lot of ways, Haus is an antidote to the establishment liquor biz, and your beautiful bottles and packaging reflect that aberration from the average. (The look is also part of what makes Haus so eminently giftable, if you ask us.) What went into the design process, and was it a challenge to realize your aesthetic vision within the constraints of what’s expected/required by industry standards?
We're the first company in the spirits space to sell directly to the drinker instead of selling strictly through restaurants, bars, and retailers. With that in mind, we asked ourselves — What if instead of designing a bottle for retailers and bars, we designed a bottle for the drinker? What is important to them, and what purpose does the bottle serve?
So that's how we approached the bottle design. The bottle was designed to be an art object in the home, rather than a device for marketing the product. We were inspired by modern ceramics and natural materials, and kept it as simple as possible. To even choose a color meant alienating ourselves from a potential customer. We wanted to fit into a home, not compete for attention in it. As we grow and expand into wholesale, it's easy to spot our bottle on a bar or retail shelf. That was intentional as well. Most liquor bottles look the same, and we wanted to do something completely different.
The 411 on Helena Price Hambrecht
Helena Price Hambrecht is the co-founder and Co-CEO of Haus. Prior to Haus, Helena was a Silicon Valley creative who helped shape brands like Facebook, Fitbit, Google, Instagram, Microsoft, Nike, Pinterest, Slack, Square, Twitter and Uber. Her work has been featured on ABC, CNN, The New York Times, Fast Company, Fortune, Glamour, The Guardian, and Inc.
Site: helenaprice.com / drink.haus Twitter: @helena Instagram: @helenapricehambrecht
