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2023
Client: Akitsu Toshimi Coffee
Direction: Yasumasa Hayashi (ArchTank)
Art Direction and Design: Tsutomu Yoshizaki
Akitsu Toshizane Coffee is a coffee shop located in Akitsu, Hiroshima Prefecture, a town with a tranquil atmosphere facing the Seto Inland Sea. Owner Toshizane assisted with the concept and packaging design for the "Setouchi Akitsu Seven Islands Tour" coffee drip bag set, which was created with the desire to pass on to future generations the legends surrounding Akitsu's seven islands scattered around the Seto Inland Sea. Working in collaboration with MiKS inc.'s partner, ArchTank's Yasumasa Hayashi, who served as the overall director, the shop researched the town's history and landscape, conceiving a theme that conveys the town's atmosphere along with its aromas.
Akitsu's history reveals that it has been a key maritime transportation hub since the Nara period, and its abundant water and soil have earned it the nickname "the birthplace of Hiroshima sake," a world-renowned sake brewery. For this design, we first aimed for a relatively light impact: to spark interest in Akitsu through coffee. Therefore, rather than conveying its history in text, we decided to convey its "atmosphere" through photographs and graphics. The graphics on each coffee bag are based on the previously used landscape of Akitsu's Seven Islands by ink painter Fujiwara Rokugendō, but the colors were changed to match the seven types of coffee, visually differentiating each product. The enclosed leaflet has a soft, journal-like feel, and not only explains the seven types of coffee bags but also visually conveys information about Akitsu Town, Toshimi Coffee, and the owner's thoughts. Furthermore, after meticulous on-site research in Akitsu Town, we included a bookmark with a unique color that was extracted from the town's various "hues," creating a mechanism to convey the atmosphere along with the coffee.
Akitsu's fertile soil and water are depicted in red and blue, and the packaging conveys this atmosphere with a photograph overlooking Akitsu Town's bay. The box with a window was designed to allow the atmosphere to be flexibly changed by changing the leaflet design mentioned above, allowing it to respond to the changes in Akitsu town, which is attracting exciting players whose future developments are sure to unfold.
Hayashi, who designed the store's architecture, went beyond the realm of architecture to take on the overall direction, making this a collaborative project that strongly suggests will help to strengthen the brand.
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