- Bento is a range of wine created explicitly to pair with Japanese and other Asian foods in Australia
- Designed by Denomination, the bottle designs feature Japanese character, type treatments, and other visual cultural cues
Sometimes a product is created simply to fill a void; seeing a demand and meeting it precisely.
This was the case with Bento, a line of wines created for the Australian market explicitly to pair with Asian food, particularly Japanese. From agency Denomination for Fourth Wave, Bento harnesses the visually rich cultural language of Japan in its label system, featuring illustrated Japanese characters in a palette of reds and blues.
These bottles have heightened shelf appeal thanks to this quirky, graphic style and captivating characters. Other, more subtle nods to Japanese culture incorporated into the design include vertical typography, a pattern on the bottles’ capsules inspired by traditional Japanese ceramics, and the repurposing of a red stamp often used in Japanese restaurants. These visual cues ladder up to a distinct homage to Japanese culture and food to pair perfectly with a growing favorite cuisine in Australia.
East Asian cuisine makes up 35% of all food delivery in Australia, and its ethnic food market reached $1.2 billion USD in 2023, projected to grow to $2.7 billion USD by 2032, with a compound annual growth rate of 9.45%. Our client Fourth Wave determined a white space opportunity to create a brand that would be made specifically for Asian cuisine, particularly Japanese. The wine style would have the right balance of acid and fruit sweetness to complement this cuisine.
We were tasked with creating a name, brand identity and packaging design that would immediately communicate the wine’s suitability to Japanese cuisine. It needed to stand out on shelf and appeal to a broad consumer group who are interested in wines, but potentially lack the deep knowledge of how to pair wine with particular cuisines. These consumers tend to be urban and eat out regularly, especially at local Asian restaurants. They appreciate the friendliness, coolness and quirkiness of the Japanese culture which is prevalent in Australia: Japan is the #4 tourist destination for Australians.
Enter Bento: a striking, cool, quirky and unique wine brand. Featuring a range of old-school illustrations of uniquely Japanese characters, this design is highly memorable and impactful. There’s a warmth and humour to the illustrations which creates a friendly approachable brand feel that aligns to the Japanese personality.
The logotype of Bento is vertical to mimic Japanese typographic characters, and a stamp has been created which takes inspiration from the “Speciality of the House” stamp often used in Japanese restaurants, but in this case worded to communicate the purpose of the wine: “Specially made for Japanese & Asian Food”. The typographic choice for Bento has an Asian sensibility, and the wide short character formation feels both approachable and unique.
Housed in an elongated lozenge is the varietal, region and vintage, again mimicking vertical typography of Japan. A lot of Japan’s art features a red mark of sorts, and so we treated the vintage in red, using the same typography as the brand’s logotype.
The capsule design has been inspired by ubiquitous Japanese ceramics in tones of blue.
