Manyo Omi Beef Package

We were in charge of package design for the Omi beef specialty restaurant Manyo.

Omi beef is one of Japan’s three major beef varieties. It is the highest quality beef in Japan.
The name of the restaurant, Manyo, made me think of the Manyoshu (The Anthology of Myriad Leaves).

The Manyoshu is the oldest existing collection of poetry in Japan, compiled from the late 7th to the late 8th century. As a specialty store run by a meat company, the shape of a “book” came to mind for conveying the concept of meat production to customers, which led me to Manyoshu.

The meat is wrapped in a package that resembles the traditional Japanese book-binding method called Watoji. The package has an exuberant and luxurious feel of opening a book. The paper is embossed to give it the appearance of a cloth-bound book. The package is sealed with rubber and metal seals. The design was appropriate for top-quality meat.

The package is designed to be opened with a sense of exhilaration and luxury.