Rating: 
Summary: Must Have
Review: A designers must have! Great inspiration on pushing the envelope in packaging design. Jeffrey Caldewey and Chuck House are the top of their field and it shows in every design. A great gift for the upcoming holidays. Everyone from wine connoisseur to artist will enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Captivating
Review: As a lover of wine, fine graphics, a quilter and a librarian by profession, I found Icon to be a fascinating book. Not only were the illustrations beautifully done(the authors must have demanded that their work be produced by a fine printer), but I enjoyed reading about the process these two gentlemen go through in developing a label. As a quilt designer I can see myself employing some of the same techniques in quilt design. And the next time I buy a bottle of wine I will better appreciate the label and the artists who create them for having read this book.This will definitely be on my Christmas gift list for close friends and family who enjoy great art, beautiful books and wine. The perfect gift. Keep up the good work Mr. Caldewey and Mr. House.
Rating:
Summary: Visual feast
Review: As a lover of wine, fine graphics, a quilter and a librarian by profession, I found Icon to be a fascinating book. Not only were the illustrations beautifully done(the authors must have demanded that their work be produced by a fine printer), but I enjoyed reading about the process these two gentlemen go through in developing a label. As a quilt designer I can see myself employing some of the same techniques in quilt design. And the next time I buy a bottle of wine I will better appreciate the label and the artists who create them for having read this book.This will definitely be on my Christmas gift list for close friends and family who enjoy great art, beautiful books and wine. The perfect gift. Keep up the good work Mr. Caldewey and Mr. House.
Rating: 
Summary: Three Stars for Wine Geeks--Two for the Rest of Us
Review: By Bill Marsano. This perplexing book is beautifully produced and generously proportioned. The publisher has given his all (not without hope, however, of getting it back--note the price). It's most impressive. So why is it also rather disappointing?Frankly, it's because we are led to expect too much. Title and subtitle suggest a richly informed and wide-ranging survey of label art from many sources over many decades. In fact the coverage spans just a few years, a few places (nearly 85 percent of the designs are from California) and two designers (Jeffrey Caldewey and Chuck House, who are pre-eminent in their field). And the subject isn't art but label and package design: in short, sales tools. Even the title is a pretentious flim-flam. 'Icon' means either 'sacred image,' which is hardly justified here, or those vulgar little cartoons that offend the eye on computer screens the world around. Surely they didn't mean ?Then revelation comes: Icon is the name of the design firm headed by Caldewey and House. It is hard to escape the conclusion that this is a glorified promotional brochure. Within those rather severe limitations this is a pretty attractive coffee-table production. Each of the more than 100 wines shown has its own page and is shown in full--the whole 'package,' not just the label. Some are delightful, charming, friendly and fun, notably those of Bonny Doon (whose owner is the famously humorous Randall Grahm), Frog's Leap, Gundlach Bundschu, Honig, Whitehall Lane and (too few) others. Elsewhere, elegance is to be found, as is cutting-edge stylishness--and, unfortunately, other labels that seem prim and merely dignified, as if standing on ceremony. Each package portrait faces a page with a blessedly brief paragraph of odd facts, high-flown hooey and grammatical lapses (one wonders about the editing here; the first error, although admittedly minor, occurs in the very first line of the introduction). By hooey I mean insider designer prattle like 'the five-sided label . . . represents the five grape varietals used in the blend.' To me, symbolism fails when the designer has to explain it. Especially because this selfsame label clearly lists not five but . Or 'A separate aureate banner proclaims the wine's reserve pedigree.' 'Aureate'? Oh, you mean gold-colored or gold-tone? 'Banner'? Oh, that's the tacky little strip made to resemble, complete with nail holes, the brass title tags found on ancient picture frames. Frankly, a designer still using such old-hat stuff in 2000 has more reason to blush than to boast.One important point that does come through is that good design isn't simply "dreamt up" but discovered and developed from facts and artifacts specific to each project. A good example is the elegant Lewelling label, inspired by the 19th Century calling card of the winery's founder. Another is Whitehall Lane's, based gloriously on the melted-crayon artwork of the winery owner's three-year-old daughter. Wine geeks will love this book and so will designers. Ordinary wine-drinkers will enjoy a quick riffle or two but then are likely to leave it on the coffee table and forget about it.--Bill Marsano is an award-winning writer on wines, spirits and travel.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent visual storybook
Review: Excellent visual storybook depicting the art of the wine label, and in it a reflection of the evolution of the industry as a whole. This is not only an art book, but an introspective revelation of the souls behind this fascinating industry and lifestye. A wonderful journey of escape into a magical world, that also happens to be real.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Best!
Review: ICON - the embodiment of spirit, matter, and time. In Einsteinian terms, ICON would be the equation that sums time, space, matter, and ideology. ICON is a tour de force, a signature piece representing the extensive body of work by two of the wine industries brightest stars, Jeffrey Caldeway and Chuck House, package designers. One once told me that the contents of a barrel, brown bag for a label, sans introduction, sipped from a coffee cup in your kitchen, will defy distinction by most and keep both the wine and the consumer most honest. But we of sophistication desire more than honesty, and more is ours in ICON. To the vast universe of wine, the package brings order to chaos, diminishes chance, dispels mystery, stamps a caste, creates distinction, and strokes your ego and those of others. We assume the package as an intimate expression of Self, much in the same way one would don a designer creation. Albeit, a label does nothing to alter the wine. In this treatise of wine package history, we are reminded that necessity is the mother of invention. Order to chaos produced the first labels. Labels of origin, distinction, and personality followed. It wasn't until recent times that ego drove the package, and Ego is the stuff of ICON. This book reveals both Jeff and Chuck as modern day alchemists, intently stirring their witches brew of ego, dream, soil, anxiety, money, sweat, clone, ambition, microclimate, and desire, distilled into an amalgam of glass, cork, paper, and ink which will transform total of Past into the largesse of Future . . . a responsibility from which all but the most tempered would shrink. And whom amongst us do we charge with this lofty responsibility? It must be entrusted to those select few who have the creative talent, skills, will, and ability to lift mere grape juice to the pedestal upon which it currently resides. Package designers must do for others what they are incapable of doing themselves. Jeff Caldeway and Chuck House are gifted Iconoclasts, challenged with creating an artistic expression which will herald not only the product but, moreover, the totality of the person, the sole of the winemaker, the beast that lies within. We find the authors delving into a very intimate and complex process of discovery. Needs. Wants. Values. History. Family. Dreams. Hopes. Fears. Stuff. From all this they must derived a package that projects not only the person and the product, but also an expression that potentially becomes a fulcrum on which success and failure balance. Drawing from ancient beginnings, Jeff Caldeway and Chuck House have successfully bred charm and aristocracy into the great wines and spirits of present day, inscribing pedigree after pedigree that will endure. Page after page brings to mind another example of success that can be directly attributable to the profound influence their package had on the wine selection process. The depth and breadth of their body of work clearly place Jeff and Chuck at the forefront of the wine package business for more than three decades, leaving a legacy most others could only hope to achieve. ICON secures their place amongst the elite who's creativity exceeded all those before them, who's work will not soon be eclipsed. Art, beauty, and finesse abound. ICON elicits something that is deeply satisfying, much like a well-turned ankle or great music. Printing, inks, paper, photography, binding are all first cabin. ICON is a calling card, a testament, and an example of excellence that the authors expect from themselves and deliver to others. We are blessed to have such a fine compendium to grace our lives, the likes not often achieved. It is a gift, a reference, a history, a conversation maker, and a commanding centerpiece for any lover of wine and art. I would recommend you add ICON to your collection and see how long it stays on your coffee table! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Share it with a friend.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Best!
Review: ICON - the embodiment of spirit, matter, and time. In Einsteinian terms, ICON would be the equation that sums time, space, matter, and ideology. ICON is a tour de force, a signature piece representing the extensive body of work by two of the wine industries brightest stars, Jeffrey Caldeway and Chuck House, package designers. One once told me that the contents of a barrel, brown bag for a label, sans introduction, sipped from a coffee cup in your kitchen, will defy distinction by most and keep both the wine and the consumer most honest. But we of sophistication desire more than honesty, and more is ours in ICON. To the vast universe of wine, the package brings order to chaos, diminishes chance, dispels mystery, stamps a caste, creates distinction, and strokes your ego and those of others. We assume the package as an intimate expression of Self, much in the same way one would don a designer creation. Albeit, a label does nothing to alter the wine. In this treatise of wine package history, we are reminded that necessity is the mother of invention. Order to chaos produced the first labels. Labels of origin, distinction, and personality followed. It wasn't until recent times that ego drove the package, and Ego is the stuff of ICON. This book reveals both Jeff and Chuck as modern day alchemists, intently stirring their witches brew of ego, dream, soil, anxiety, money, sweat, clone, ambition, microclimate, and desire, distilled into an amalgam of glass, cork, paper, and ink which will transform total of Past into the largesse of Future . . . a responsibility from which all but the most tempered would shrink. And whom amongst us do we charge with this lofty responsibility? It must be entrusted to those select few who have the creative talent, skills, will, and ability to lift mere grape juice to the pedestal upon which it currently resides. Package designers must do for others what they are incapable of doing themselves. Jeff Caldeway and Chuck House are gifted Iconoclasts, challenged with creating an artistic expression which will herald not only the product but, moreover, the totality of the person, the sole of the winemaker, the beast that lies within. We find the authors delving into a very intimate and complex process of discovery. Needs. Wants. Values. History. Family. Dreams. Hopes. Fears. Stuff. From all this they must derived a package that projects not only the person and the product, but also an expression that potentially becomes a fulcrum on which success and failure balance. Drawing from ancient beginnings, Jeff Caldeway and Chuck House have successfully bred charm and aristocracy into the great wines and spirits of present day, inscribing pedigree after pedigree that will endure. Page after page brings to mind another example of success that can be directly attributable to the profound influence their package had on the wine selection process. The depth and breadth of their body of work clearly place Jeff and Chuck at the forefront of the wine package business for more than three decades, leaving a legacy most others could only hope to achieve. ICON secures their place amongst the elite who's creativity exceeded all those before them, who's work will not soon be eclipsed. Art, beauty, and finesse abound. ICON elicits something that is deeply satisfying, much like a well-turned ankle or great music. Printing, inks, paper, photography, binding are all first cabin. ICON is a calling card, a testament, and an example of excellence that the authors expect from themselves and deliver to others. We are blessed to have such a fine compendium to grace our lives, the likes not often achieved. It is a gift, a reference, a history, a conversation maker, and a commanding centerpiece for any lover of wine and art. I would recommend you add ICON to your collection and see how long it stays on your coffee table! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Share it with a friend.
Rating:
Summary: Best gift to have...
Review: Incredible gathering of the most exceptional, impactful and style wine label designs... by the two best in the wine world, Jeffrey Caldewey and Chuck House, from both a consumer and professional perspective! Very insightful and best gift to have!!!
Rating:
Summary: Art and wine merging perfectly
Review: The book is outstanding. It opens your eyes to a world behind wine and design. Using our senses is not something we have to limit to taste, smell and sight of the wine. The bottle, the label and the story behind the winemaking process can be just as interesting. After reading Mr. Marsano's review you are under the impression Icon lacks depth and a true reason for its existence. However, he forgot this is a coffee table book and therefore it is aimed to be fun, require short attention span, entertain, decorate and certainly not demand from you a critic eye to spot the fault on terms like "banner". Icon certainly accomplishes its mission. It is full of interesting details, beautiful photographs, facts and stories completing the magical experience of wine. Sorry Mr. Marsano, your criticism migh be professional, your eyes failed to spot the real meaning of this book.
I am almost certain this is the kind of book that should be kept as an icon(again) of our times. The name is perfect. The book has been carefully crafted, holding a luxury quality that certainly will keep it alive throughout time. The mythological nature of wine and its distinctive power to create a magical environment when we open a bottle is honored through the pages of this book. Buy it now. It might get more expensive in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Art and wine merging perfectly
Review: The book is outstanding. It opens your eyes to a world behind wine and design. Using our senses is not something we have to limit to taste, smell and sight of the wine. The bottle, the label and the story behind the winemaking process can be just as interesting. After reading Mr. Marsano's review you are under the impression Icon lacks depth and a true reason for its existence. However, he forgot this is a coffee table book and therefore it is aimed to be fun, require short attention span, entertain, decorate and certainly not demand from you a critic eye to spot the fault on terms like "banner". Icon certainly accomplishes its mission. It is full of interesting details, beautiful photographs, facts and stories completing the magical experience of wine. Sorry Mr. Marsano, your criticism migh be professional, your eyes failed to spot the real meaning of this book.
I am almost certain this is the kind of book that should be kept as an icon(again) of our times. The name is perfect. The book has been carefully crafted, holding a luxury quality that certainly will keep it alive throughout time. The mythological nature of wine and its distinctive power to create a magical environment when we open a bottle is honored through the pages of this book. Buy it now. It might get more expensive in the future.
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