Platinum Packaging Design · 2025
Nong Li Beer Packaging
by China Resources Snow Breweries
- A' Design Award 2025 Platinum Winner in Packaging Design
- Awarded April 15, 2025
- CLIENT: China Resources Snow Breweries
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 7,206,885
- Verification code 2E1DC0DED0 · Verify this award
About Nong Li Beer Packaging
Nong Li is a beer packaging design inspired by the Yangshao Culture of ancient China. The bottle is shaped after the Shuang Er Ni Yu, a salamander fish patterned pottery vessel used as a liquor container in that early culture. Black pottery craftsmanship is combined with a traditional glass form, and the dark color protects the beer from light and temperature changes. Geometric patterns add visual interest and provide a secure grip. The cap illustrates four steps of an ancient Chinese toast ritual: taste, offer, respond and reciprocate.
The Nong Li Beer Packaging represents a distinguished achievement in contemporary beverage vessel design, one that navigates the complex territory between ancestral craft heritage and present-day luxury market expectations with notable sophistication. The design team appears to have drawn deeply from historical ceramic and bronze traditions, translating the characteristic geometric vocabularies found in ritual vessels spanning millennia into a fresh material and formal language suited to contemporary consumption contexts. The tripartite decorative organization demonstrates particular compositional intelligence, establishing visual rhythm through the interplay of angular chevron patterns that suggest mountain forms or ceremonial textile motifs, flowing linear elements evoking water courses or atmospheric phenomena, and grounding horizontal bands that provide necessary visual rest. This hierarchical arrangement may reference cosmological ordering principles found across numerous cultural traditions, where upper, middle, and lower registers correspond to celestial, terrestrial, and foundational realms respectively. The material choices reinforce the vessel's premium positioning while honoring craft traditions: the matte black ceramic finish recalls unglazed stoneware traditions valued for their understated elegance and tactile appeal, while the contrasting gold-toned cap introduces a note of preciousness that elevates the object beyond mere utility. The crimson seal functions as both authentication mark and chromatic punctuation, its placement and coloration drawing from centuries of document and artifact verification practices. One might observe how the design achieves its communicative goals through restraint rather than excess, allowing the quality of form, surface, and decorative execution to speak for the contents within. How might the tactile experience of holding this vessel extend and deepen the sensory appreciation of its contents?
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Nong Li epitomizes Chinese brewing culture, enchanting from brew to packaging. It combines a recipe from the Yangshao Culture and the ancient grain fermentation technique called Nie Zao, celebrating Chinese brewing tradition. The bottle is shaped after the Shuang Er Ni Yu (salamander fish) patterned pottery vessel iconic in the Yangshao Culture. The cap is adorned with the scenes of ancient Chinese drinking etiquette. Every detail reflects the reverence and inheritance of history and culture.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- product dimensions, 355 mm x 355 mm x 120 mm
- Tags
- Beer packaging, Ancient grain fermentation, Yangshao culture, Chinese drinking etiquette, Integration of classical art
- Production Technology
- The bottle is a blend of black pottery craftsmanship and traditional glass form, exuding a timeless allure as if suspending the ephemeral moment in perpetuity. Its dark hue protects the beer from light and temperature fluctuations, complemented by a meticulous seal to preserve the prime flavor over time.
- Design Challenge
- The challenge was to distill the essence of Yangshao Culture into an accessible form, and stay attuned to modern aesthetics. To this end, this packaging integrates the silhouette of Neolithic painted pottery vessel, geometric patterns from the Yangshao Culture, and illustrations of a genteel toast ritual when hosting guests. These elements, presented in a vivid, intuitive manner, transform Nong Li into a piece of cultural art, enriching beer enjoyment with cultural value and aesthetic allure.
- Project Duration
- The design and development of Nong Li was completed in January, 2023. It was introduced the market in September of the same year.
- Operation Flow
- The cap is adorned with the scenes of ancient Chinese drinking etiquette, illustrating four steps of a toast ritual: taste, offer, respond, and reciprocate. Each sip becomes a journey through this drinking tradition.
The geometric patterns on the bottle add an aesthetic appeal, and secure a grip free from slipping.
Presented in a gift box alongside the traditional Gu drinking vessels, Nong Li is steeped in the echoes of antiquity, perfect for gifting friends and family or treating guests. - Research
- By delving deep into the Yangshao Culture and Chinese liquor culture, this packaging design merges classical elements with modern aesthetics. This fusion giving birth to Nong Li, a product steeped in cultural depth and artistic charm. It celebrates the ancient brewing technique, while also embodying an innovative extension of contemporary drinking culture, seamlessly bridging the past with the present.
- Inspiration
- This packaging embodies the idea that Nong Li: Embracing Tradition and Elegance in Every Sip, aiming to promote Chinese liquor culture and drinking etiquette. The bottle deign draws on the culturally rich form and patterns of the Shuang Er Ni Yu (salamander fish) patterned pottery vessel, an iconic liquor container in the Yangshao Culture. The cap is illustrated with four steps of a genteel toast ritual in ancient China, highlighting the cultural depth and artistic value of Nong Li.