Sandstrom Partners

In short

Sandstrom Partners is a Portland brand and packaging firm, and its portfolio reads like a back bar: bourbon, gin, tequila, mezcal, rum, cider and beer, with tea, coffee and boxed wine on the side. The work runs from naming and identity through custom bottle shapes, closures, retail displays and merchandise. Its stated rule is that design without direction is decoration. That category depth puts it at #3 on our Portland list.

Bulleit Bourbon is the long one. Sandstrom drew the frontier-style bottle for the 1999 launch, then stayed on through global standards, line extensions and ready-to-pour cocktails. For St-Germain it shaped the elderflower liqueur's Paris-in-a-bottle identity and bottle, down to party hats sent out as New Year cards. Aviation Gin was branded as American gin, and the firm also named and packaged Tazo Tea and Steven Smith Teamaker.

Spirits, beverage and packaged-food brands, from a founder with a first bottle to a global owner such as Diageo, are who this firm serves best. It is especially useful where the package has to do the selling on a crowded shelf. Software companies, or anyone whose main need is product UX or a complex web build, should look elsewhere; websites here appear as a brand deliverable, not a specialty.