Premium bourbon brand wordmark + heritage label series

About the project We're launching The Trades, a premium limited-edition bourbon that honors the American skilled trades. Each release is a different "trade" edition under one master brand — a collectible series in a custom distressed-metal box with two engraved glasses. This is a heritage, premium, collectible product, and the design has to look and feel the part. We need a designer/illustrator to: (1) develop our "The Trades" brand wordmark from an existing concept, (2) build a reusable master label template, and (3) fully design and illustrate our launch edition, "Gandy Dancer" (a tribute to railroad track-laying crews). We're committing to a five-edition series and will roll out the remaining four editions with you over the coming months. Our concept We have an AI-generated concept image that captures our vision — heritage-industrial, distressed finish, the "The Trades" wordmark with crossed hammers, a premium leather-and-steel mood. It's a direction/mood reference, NOT a finished asset. Your job is to create the real, production-quality wordmark and label system from it, with latitude to refine and evolve the direction while keeping it coherent with this look and our metal box. We'll share the concept and a full creative brief with shortlisted candidates. Style direction Rugged but refined. Turn-of-the-century American industrial heritage — stamped-metal maker's plates, engraving/etching linework, aged copper and gunmetal, distressed leather and steel. Original hand illustration in an engraving/woodcut style is central (Gandy Dancer features a railroad track / steam locomotive). NOT rustic-farmhouse, NOT modern-minimal, NOT cartoonish. Must-have experience Premium spirits / beverage / packaging label work Strong original heritage illustration — engraving, etching, or woodcut (link pieces you drew from scratch) Print-production skill: print-ready Adobe Illustrator (.AI) files built for foil/emboss finishes Ability to design a consistent series This is work-for-hire — full ownership of the wordmark and artwork transfers to us. (It's an alcohol label, so it carries required TTB copy — we provide all of that and a layout brief; you place it within the design.) To apply, please include: 2–3 portfolio pieces most relevant to premium labels AND heritage illustration A short note on how you'd approach a collectible series on a reusable template Your quote: a package price for wordmark + template + Gandy Dancer, AND a per-edition price for the additional four Your timeline for the first deliverable