This project was especially unique because only 15 of these boxes were ever made. The Jim Bean and Suntory teams came to us to help them design a limited edition, custom wooden box to package a bottle that held a special batch of Jim Beam White. This batch was barreled for the Chairman of the Suntory board to commemorate Suntory acquiring Jim Beam in 2014. A few years later, they were celebrating the batch reaching its four-year maturation. The box design we were commissioned to develop, needed to represent the big dreams that the Suntory board had for the brand.
In Japan, wood is often charred to keep out insects and other elements that could cause damage. The barrel that held the special batch of Jim Beam White was charred on the inside to protect the batch and the wood from environmental factors. The inside of the wood box we created to hold the bottle was charred to replicate the inside of the barrel. The outside of the wood box was the wood in its natural state. Together, these two features represented the entire lifecycle of a wood Whiskey barrel. Other decorative features included treatments of certain colors and ropes with ringing bells to mark a special occasion. A lot of creative energy, precision and detail went into this project.
