Aquetha Envasado de Sake by Tacto Inc. is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2024 A' Design Award de Plata in Diseño de Envases Competition Category.

PlataEnvases· 2024

Aquetha Envasado de Sake

by Tacto Inc.

Client: Tacto Inc

A' Design Award de Plata Winner in Envases Category

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The Design

About Aquetha Envasado de Sake

Aquetha es un diseño de packaging y branding para sake japonés envejecido. La botella está elaborada a mano por un artista del vidrio y modelada por la fuerza de la gravedad, lo que le confiere una redondez natural que sugiere el paso del tiempo. Esta forma redondeada también favorece un envejecimiento suave tras el embotellado. Las etiquetas transparentes se producen mediante impresión tipográfica en seco (gofrado sin tinta) para reflejar el carácter puro del envejecimiento a temperatura de hielo. La sencilla caja exterior presenta una hendidura entre la tapa y el cuerpo que expresa la línea temporal del envejecimiento. El diseño presenta el sake añejo como una obra de arte y no como un producto corriente.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award de Plata

Aquetha Envasado de Sake ha ganado el A' Design Award de Plata, un reconocimiento extraordinariamente prestigioso concedido a diseños de gama alta, magníficos e impresionantes. Los ganadores de Plata son obras tremendamente brillantes y sumamente creativas que ilustran la destacada experiencia, el talento y la agudeza de sus diseñadores. Se espera que Aquetha Envasado de Sake sea una obra maravillosa y emblemática, notablemente profesional y profundamente innovadora. Este diseño ganador del A' Design Award de Plata es una invención muy notable y admirada que beneficia y hace avanzar las fronteras del arte, la ciencia, el diseño y la tecnología. Aquetha Envasado de Sake es una creación enormemente envidiada que evoca deseos, aporta sentimientos positivos y despierta asombro y admiración.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Aged sake is a minor genre among Japanese sake, and the design team needed to re-propose it to the world in a way that is not bound by the traditional context of Japanese sake. Therefore, they created a design to position AQUETHA, which is characterized by ice-temperature aging, as the umbrella for the online gallery “Kitamura Sake Exhibition,'' which views aged sake as works of art, and as the first of the works that will be exhibited and sold there. Based on this concept, they planned and developed bottles that are hand-made by artists, and a website that functions as a gallery. The selection of works for the second and subsequent editions is already underway, as they have been well-received by Western liquor fans and young people who were previously unable to approach aged sake.
Dimensions & Packaging: Bottle: width 110mm × depths110mm × height150mm
Package: width135mm × depth135mm × height 165mm
Tags: Packaging, Product Design, Website
Production Technology: Bottles and packaging that do not compromise
on every detail as a “artwork”.
Design team commissioned glass artist Yutaro Kijima to create a bottle that is shaped by the force of gravity and has a natural roundness that gives a sense of the passage of time. Furthermore, in order to make the most of the clear impression that is a characteristic of ice-cold aging, they created transparent labels printed using blank letterpress printing.

The outer box has a simple shape to make the flask-shaped bottle look more attractive. they created a dent on the border between the lid and the main body to express the aging timeline, creating a luxurious feel that incorporates the delicate image of the work.

A website that acts more like a gallery than EC site.
On the website, design team aimed to create a gallery-like space where the consumer could "feel" the work rather than "buying" the product. AQUETHA's greatest feature, the delicacy that matures slowly over time, is expressed through white-based visuals and delicate lines. The spacious design creates a clean, simple and sophisticated image.
Design Challenge: Since the Sake bottle is designed to be handcrafted one by one with glasswork craftsman, it was challenging to make them a perfect size and shape to keep the quality of sake among temperature and moisture. Design team and glass artist had tried so many different shape to test wether the bottle keeps the quality of sake in different atmosphere. They ended up using rounded bottle that helps smooth aging of sake after sake is bottled.
Inspiration: Design team faced business issue of what can they do to increase the value of aged sake, which is an idle asset in sake breweries across Japan. They found inspiration in paintings, which value of painting varies depending on popularity and the time. The solution was to open an online gallery as a curator to exhibit and sell aged sake, a treasure hidden throughout Japan.
Project Duration: 2months, Tokyo, Japan
Operation Flow: This tends to be SDGs project because lots of sake brewery have unsold sake that is asleep for a certain period of time (it is perfectly kept to be aged sake). The design team has branded them as Aged Sake to turn unsold sake into a value for brewery and customer, which ultimately prevented from lots of sake become a waste.
Team Members: Creative Director: Hayato Itakura
Strategist/Copy Writer: Takuro Nakajima
Art Director: Kohei Futakuchi
Visual Designer: Kazuya Sakamoto
Image Credits: Photographer: Masato Ishibashi
Glass Artist: Yutaro Kijima