The Maple 7 Canadian Rye Whisky by Tiago Russo and Katia Martins Is Granted the Silver A' Design Award in Packaging Design

The Work

Project

The Maple 7 Canadian Rye Whisky

Function

Canadian Rye Whisky

Category

Packaging Design

Discipline

Communication Design

Industry

Packaging & Retail, Branding & Advertising and Manufacturing

Colors

Black, Saddle Brown, Maroon, Dark Slate Gray and Dark Olive Green

Images

5

Client

The Craft Irish Whiskey Co.

The Recognition

Laureate

Tiago Russo and Katia Martins

Country

Portugal

Recognition

Silver A' Design Award

Edition

2023 - 2024

Design ID

#160083

Credits

Team

Tiago Russo and Katia Martins

Image Credits

The Craft Irish Whiskey Co.

Design Details

Unique Properties

A collaboration between The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. and Highwood Distillers, The Maple 7 is the fruit of the expertise of creating world-class whiskey profiles and experiences at CIWC merged with the charismatic notes of Canadian maple and rye. A strong presence with a delicate attention to detail, this is the ultimate concept transversal to either the whisky and the design of both bottle and packaging, culminating in a powerful, luxurious experiential whisky tasting experience.

Inspiration

Bringing the luxurious, elevated experiential designs from The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. across the Atlantic, The Maple 7 is inspired by the strong visual presence of the maple tree trunks and mountains landscape, bringing together warm colours and strong, straight grain textures reminiscent of the trees and the rye that make the essence of this exclusive whisky. The Maple 7 is an ode to the bridging of the Irish culture and the Canadian whisky, bringing together an intemporal design.

Research

As the first collaboration from The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. with Canadian casks, it is imperative that the solution created has the utmost knowledge of the cultural and visual cues that make this type of whisky so characteristic, whilst keeping a distinctive, disruptive and relatable presence that highlights and elevates CIWC and its Irish heritage. As a product that is aged for 7 years, it is also imperative to separate The Maple 7 from the competition, creating a distinctive presence on-shelf.

Challenge

As a collaboration and merging of Irish and Canadian elements, each element within The Maple 7 design must pay homage to this unique cultural bridge. Embracing a strong yet naturally achieved presence, characteristic of the North American visual language, the packaging then brings together the Irish design language, with soft, delicate textures and a sensorial play of embossing and debossing, foil and blind pressing, elevating this whiskey to the luxurious tasting experience it deserves.

Realization and Technology

Shaped with strong visuals and presence, The Maple 7 vessel combines clean aesthetics with large bottle shoulders for augmented presence, with soft ribbed base and closure, exponentially increasing their grip, in a mixture of clean and textured glass, and gold metallic detailing. The box follows as a direct extension to this paradigm, with partial ribbed texture on the outside, and an interior cladding in soft cream suede colours and gold detailing, highlighting the vessel and the whisky inside.

Operation and Interaction

With a central magnetized gold medallion that locks everything together, The Maple 7 box can be opened through the rigid double flap doors, revealing the bottle and the rich whisky tones contrasting with the light cream shade of the suede. Around, gold detailing enhances depth and reflection to the glass details. The bottle, held within a gold base socket, can be removed by sliding through the housing that holds the closure at the very top, whilst keeping the strong visual presence intact.

Project Duration and Location

Designed across 3 months of R&D and shaping, The Maple 7 is a whisky that takes its time, slowly maturing over 7 years to perfect the subtleness of flavours and profiles. Visible as the passage of time through the glass ribs, this refined whisky sees its attention detail attributed to the casks and the aging reflect on every single element of the design. Enduring the passage of time, the vessel, the packaging, the materials and features ask for a calm, slowed down tasting experience altogether.

Specifications

Glass and metal contrast with the soft, textured surfacing of the cardboard and suede within the packaging. The Maple 7 brings together a balanced combination of finishes, with brushed brass and gold foiling highlight the subtleness of frost etched glass, the light ribbed cardboard texture of the soft-touch suede, always combining striking artwork details with blind debossing to create added immersion, exploring the depth of the materials through the senses.

Keywords

Whisky, luxury, design, bottle, experience, packaging, product, exclusive, drinking, Canada