Nendo creates family crest logo and packaging for Japanese craft beer
Japanese design studio Nendo has combined Japanese and Latin characters to create a crest-style logo and colour-coded packaging for Iwate Kura beer.
![Iwate Kura craft beer packaging by Nendo](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/01/Kinkura_Nendo_Japanese-craft-beer_sake-brewery_packaging-design_dezeen_936_3.jpg)
The craft beer was launched to help support the Sekinoichi sake brewery in Iwate, which was devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Iwate Kura beer comes in three versions: a pale ale, dark pilsner and black stout. To differentiate the types, the studio designed three variants of packaging that use colours to represent each of the beers.
![Iwate Kura craft beer packaging by Nendo](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/01/Kinkura_Nendo_Japanese-craft-beer_sake-brewery_packaging-design_dezeen_936_5.jpg)
"Taking inspiration from the unique combination of beer and sake brewery, which is called a 'kura' in Japanese, the products were named Kin Kura, Aka Kura, and Kuro Kura," said Nendo.
![Iwate Kura craft beer packaging by Nendo](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/01/Kinkura_Nendo_Japanese-craft-beer_sake-brewery_packaging-design_dezeen_936_6.jpg)
The studio combined the Japanese characters for red, gold and black with the English characters for Kura, to create a logo that's "reminiscent of a family crest". In each case, the symbol sits in a circular graphic that is coloured to contrast with the gradient of the can.
![Iwate Kura craft beer packaging by Nendo](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/01/Kinkura_Nendo_Japanese-craft-beer_sake-brewery_packaging-design_dezeen_936_2.jpg)
For the Kin pale ale, the studio designed yellow packaging that fades to to white at the top. The Aka dark pilsner is red, and the Kuro stout is in a brown and orange can. The packaging also features stylised images of hops that circle the bottom half of the can.
![Iwate Kura craft beer packaging by Nendo](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/01/Kinkura_Nendo_Japanese-craft-beer_sake-brewery_packaging-design_dezeen_936_7.jpg)
This is not the first time the studio has created beer packaging. In 2013, it designed bean-shaped stickers for a coffee-flavoured beer also produced by Sekinoichi.
Nendo has also designed bottles for a range of Japanese cosmetics, designing receptacles that could be stacked like blocks of stone.
![Iwate Kura craft beer packaging by Nendo](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/01/Kinkura_Nendo_Japanese-craft-beer_sake-brewery_packaging-design_dezeen_936_10-e1452078404849.jpg)
Other packaging designed by the studio includes a totem-shaped perfume bottle for Kenzo, and branding for a range of skincare products that featured grey and white crosses to reference its medicinal properties.
Photography is by Akihiro Yoshida.