Zaku Naguwashi
This is a premium sake developed specifically for luxury restaurants, aiming to be included on wine lists as one of the options for food pairing. The design challenge was to convey a distinctive sense of Japanese identity. The design draws inspiration from traditional Japanese motifs such as shide, the sacred paper streamers used in shrines to mark the boundaries of the divine, and origata, the ceremonial art of folding paper. These elements successfully convey not only their physical forms but also the deeper spirituality and essence of the Japanese people.
Zaku Naguwashi Japanese Sake by Yasushi Uemura has been highlighted as a grand illustration of communication design by the A' Design Award. Zaku Naguwashi Japanese Sake received the Golden A' Design Award in Packaging Design in 2025. The A' Packaging Design Award is an international, jury-voted, fair and ethical design award that celebrates outstanding design of bottles, boxes, cans, pouches, tubes, cartons, wrappers, bags and more.
