Matt Dunn

About 20 years ago, my business partner and I were investing money on behalf of a wealthy family. During that time, we developed the skills to invest in, acquire, sell and start businesses and we made a pact to one day build a company of our own. In fact, we set our sights on creating a new liquor brand. This was before the latest wave of innovation across every traditional spirits category in the last 10 to 15 years. A few years later, I was writing a novel that takes place in Venice. I spent 3 years of my life in Venice, in 3 month stretches, researching its history and understanding its wonderful culture. The more time I spent in Venice, the more it began to inspire the creation of our new spirit. When we created Cadello, we imagined going back to the peak of the Venetian Empire when Venetians imported amazing ingredients from places along the old Silk Route. We asked ourselves, “What spirit would these wealthy Venetians have created, using spices from the old Silk Route plus flavours from Italy, to serve at their lavish masked balls during Carnevale?” This question is the basis and the foundation of everything that is Cadello and the World of Cadello that we are creating. The mask on our label represents the masked balls where we imagined Cadello was served. In the forehead of our mask is our logo: our unique ‘Ferro Dragon’. The ‘Ferro Dragon’ of Cadello has the head of a dragon (representing China) and the tail of a ferro, from the front of the Venetian gondola. Our logo reflects China meets Italy: east meets west. The name Cadello itself is a derivation of sorts. In Venice, the word casa is abbreviated to ‘ca. We wanted to name this new spirit after a Venetian palace where grand masked balls would have been held. Hence… Ca’ Dello. Cadello. The number 88 on the label has two meanings: (i) there are 8 primary ingredients in Cadello and (ii) in Chinese culture 8 is the luckiest number. 88 symbolises double fortune, double luck and double health. The World of Cadello is defined as the black and white La Dolce Vita lifestyle, in a modern context with a Venetian essence: Timeless. Elegant. Sophisticated. Mysterious. Provocative. As we develop the Cadello brand, we will express the World of Cadello through events and physical spaces (eg Bar Cadello). Prior to creating Cadello, I worked as investment banker in both New York and London and as a private equity investor in London. The creation and development of Cadello, and the World of Cadello, is an incredible privilege that marries my work experiences with my personal passions.