Mokuzai Sake (Student Project)

Designer: Alex Dang
Project Type: Student Project
School: Humber College
Course: Graphic Deign
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Packaging Contents: Wine
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Wood
Printing Process: Carving, Foil Stamping, Wood Prints

Mokuzai (木材) Sake is an original Japanese Rice Wine brand based in Tokyo, Japan. Established in 2000, Mokuzai has been the reliable supplier of premium sake for local restaurants and international rice wine stores.

The new in-stock products of Mokuzai Sake is a series of four-season rice wines. The mission of this project is to create a new look for Mokuzai Sake bottles which still carries on the brand’s natural value and the traditional sake flavour in a modern approach. Inspired by the previous products of Mokuzai, the new sake package design takes advantage of the material of wood, which perfectly translates the brand’s name in Japanese. The oak packages not only enhance the traditional and natural identity of the Japanese sake but also preserve, protect and strengthen the aroma and flavours.

What’s Unique?
By extracting and simplifying the Kanji characters of the four seasons, the new geometric logos for the bottles were constructed with strokes and basic shapes. The special visuals were stylized with influences from the Kakejiku, the Japanese hanged scroll landscape paintings. The final designs show the convert of Kakejiku’s key components (mountains, clouds, the sun) made with strokes and geometric shapes, which mimic the style of the logos. The jet black ink texture is used to echo the traditional essence of the sake. The stylized graphics are carved on the wood sake bottles and polished with the black ink.