Ōkami Knives Product & Packaging Development
Ōkami Knives, a company created up by a couple of people who share a passion for food, cooking, kitchen knives and Japan. They make professional, high quality and at the same time affordable range of kitchen knives to the market that deliver a staggering performance.
They approached me as they wanted to change their branding identity for something more visually attractive and with a high visual attraction, to both their product and image.
Japanese series Professional Kitchen Knives
Sketching process
The idea was to create a story within the package itself, something to make the customer entertained beyond the product and the brand. So through the ancient Japanese folklore legends I created and displayed on the packaging's front cover a story:
The wolf (Ōkami) was considered to be the spirit of the mountain.
The wolf was neither good or bad but more like a judging creature, able to tell if someone was good or bad.
When someone got lost in the mountains, like the samurai on the right of the packaging, he could invoke the spirit of the wolf to guide him back home. If considered worthy by the Ōkami, the lost wanderer would be helped but if not his fate was sealed.
With this created, the moral of the story then was that the knives contain the spirit of the Ōkami and are made to help and guide the customer in the kitchen. When in a pinch they should help you to cut through the confusion...provided of course that the client has a good heart.
The wolf was neither good or bad but more like a judging creature, able to tell if someone was good or bad.
When someone got lost in the mountains, like the samurai on the right of the packaging, he could invoke the spirit of the wolf to guide him back home. If considered worthy by the Ōkami, the lost wanderer would be helped but if not his fate was sealed.
With this created, the moral of the story then was that the knives contain the spirit of the Ōkami and are made to help and guide the customer in the kitchen. When in a pinch they should help you to cut through the confusion...provided of course that the client has a good heart.
Small test in 3D
Final Packaging composition & Real Life pictures of the Packaging
CHEF'S KNIFE 8'' - MODEL NAKAMA
7'' SANTOKU KNIFE
SHIN'YU PARING KNIFE 3.5 INCH
Included within the package: Knife guard, Client card & Cleaning cloth
A mini video shot by a customer showing the box
A customer review of both the box and the knife itself
