Platinum Packaging Design · 2023
The Storyteller Single Malt Irish Whiskey
by Tiago Russo and Katia Martins
- A' Design Award 2023 Platinum Winner in Packaging Design
- Awarded April 15, 2023
- CLIENT: The Craft Irish Whiskey Co.
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 3,271,189
- Verification code 5A759F1C3D · Verify this award
About The Storyteller Single Malt Irish Whiskey
The Storyteller goal is to become an augmented immersive and personal, intimist experience, through a vessel that must be held in one’s hand, fully appreciated upon glancing and handling, feeling the frosted and clear textures, the gold trims and knurl, and ultimately the obsidian details of the closure, in what is a fully sensorial and experiential bottle design. All the remaining accessories are hidden in plain sight, and only accessible from different axis of the box, only to reveal the ultimate immersive experience by fully exploring the secrets The Storyteller has to offer.
Within the distinguished lineage of luxury presentation design, Tiago Russo's The Storyteller Single Malt Irish Whiskey emerges as a meditation on the intersection of material culture and narrative experience, transforming the convention of spirits packaging into an elaborate theatrical apparatus for ritualized discovery. The work participates in contemporary luxury's evolving discourse around experiential value, where the container achieves parity with, or perhaps transcendence of, its contents through sheer sculptural presence and ceremonial orchestration. The faceted decanter, suspended within its crystalline reliquary, evokes associations with precious geological specimens and alchemical vessels, while the graduated amber liquid within suggests temporal depth and transformation processes spanning years of quiet maturation. Russo's compositional strategy employs architectural principles of revelation and concealment, with the transparent upper chamber offering immediate visual access while the sequential drawer compartments below promise staged discovery of supplementary treasures. The material palette demonstrates sophisticated understanding of luxury signification, deploying the chromatic warmth of gold against the restrained sophistication of deep brown leather, a combination suggesting both baronial libraries and contemporary gallery installations. Technical accomplishment manifests in the precision engineering of the butterfly-wing mechanism, the seamless integration of concealed lighting, and the exacting tolerances evident throughout the modular construction. The inclusion of writing instruments among the ancillary elements suggests narrative continuation, positioning the recipient as storyteller rather than mere consumer. One might observe how the numbered edition marking visible on the exterior surfaces transforms each unit into a collectible artifact, participating in traditions of limited-production luxury that span from Renaissance patronage to contemporary art editions. What stories might emerge from the ritual unveiling this exceptional presentation demands?
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Inspired by heritage, telling the tales of Ireland and Irish Whiskey, The Storyteller is an ultra-rare whiskey that is heavily influenced by a see-through display that fully focuses on the bottle, without further distractions. A 360 degree design that encompasses and merges the details of bottle and box: an interplay of angles that elevate the display and base booklet whilst keeping all other secrets fully hidden, from the glasses to the pipette, all in their respective secret compartments.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The bottle's geometry starts from the irregular angular base, making the bottle an enneahedron that will only be placed on top of a surface on its side, allowing for the correct reading of the written information. Due to this, the bottle can only be held by hand or in the golden tripod inside the box, where, hidden in the lower dark leather casing are four push-to-open drawers, each one towards one axis, and revealing glasses, coasters, stones, pipette, carafe, and of course, the secret booklet.
- Tags
- Whiskey, luxury, design, craftsmanship, experience, immersion, packaging, product, exclusive, bottle
- Production Technology
- The Storyteller's vessel is an interplay of surfaces and geometries where half is fully frosted, and the other half, slightly recessed, is fully clear, revealing the whiskey inside in all its glory. This creates a visual play of slowly revealing the shades of the whiskey and the gold foiled across the bottle whilst viewing it from any angle. The box, on the other hand, present, at first glance, a vertical shape, with all the accessories hidden so that be bottle stays the centre of attention.
- Design Challenge
- The main creative challenge in developing The Storyteller was the combination of different materials and slots that could create an illusion effect for both bottle and booklet. As a very peculiar glass vessel, full of intricate details and finishes, its stand also needed to defy the conventional, by maximizing the way the bottle, closure and detailing are highlighted by the experience box, keeping the interaction a moment of discovery instead of a product that gives away every single feature.
- Project Duration
- Over a year, The Storyteller was designed and envisioned to the finest of details, thought through in order to provide a fully immersive experience between user and bottle. The box was developed to act as a cabinet of curiosities, where History and Mythology merge into secret chambers that reveal the whiskey-tasting accessories and the booklet, hiding in plain sight, waiting for the chosen user to unleash its secrets, yet always focusing on the floating bottle as the core of interaction.
- Operation Flow
- Opening from the top in angled hinges, The Storyteller box opens exactly like two books together, making it only possible to remove the bottle from the top, held in a metallic tripod that elevates the vessel, slightly tilted upwards, allowing for a better read of the information embedded into the bottle. Underneath, a combination of optical illusion, LED and perspective reveals just a glimpse of the booklet that tells the story of the whiskey and meaningful moments of Irish whiskey heritage.
- Research
- The focus of R&D during the creation of The Storyteller was focused on Irish History and literature. As an homage to the Managing Director, Ian Duignan's ancestors' and their trade, The Storyteller is a product that must understand the past, its importance and relevance, whilst looking into the future, with a disruptive approach and new methods of showcasing and highlighting the vessel and the whiskey inside. Due to that, mechanisms, automations and displays were also a core part of the research.
- Inspiration
- More than a collectable, more than pure visionary design, The Storyteller represents an authentic piece of Irish History. Based on our Director's ancestors' tradition of being the country's storytellers, travelling from town to town and delivering the news across the island, this is a meaningful, personal take on a whiskey experience that merges with design to create a moment in History, to create new memories, powerful ones, around a glass of one of the rarest, most sought-after whiskeys ever produced.
- Image Credits
- The Craft Irish Whiskey Co.
Colors of The Storyteller Single Malt Irish Whiskey
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