J. Rieger & Co. was founded in Kansas City in 1887 and grew into one of the most significant whiskey operations in the United States before Prohibition brought it to a halt. When the brand returned, the question was not how to modernise it, nor simply how to make it more contemporary. The question was how to build something truly worthy of what it had once been, while acknowledging the weight of its legacy.
The previous packaging relied on a stock bottle shared across competing labels. It offered no structural claim, no distinctive shelf presence, and no meaningful connection to the brand’s own history or identity. That gap demanded more than a visual update or a superficial redesign.
The process began in the archive. By carefully studying the range of bottles J. Rieger & Co. used throughout its early years, the project recovered something more useful than aesthetics alone: the underlying logic of those objects, their proportions, their weight, their tactility, and their sense of occasion. That logic informed every decision in the new structure, guiding both form and intention.
The resulting bottle belongs to no one else. A custom silhouette built to carry the brand’s gravity without referencing it literally or relying on nostalgia. Alongside it, a redesigned label system brings clarity and coherence to the current expressions while allowing flexibility and space for the portfolio to grow over time.
This was not a project about simply updating a look. It was about building a vessel that a brand with a century of history, and another century ahead, could confidently stand behind.
CREDIT
- Agency/Creative: Holy Studio
- Article Title: Holy Studio Develops J. Rieger & Co. With a Custom Whiskey Bottle Design Rooted in Archival Research and Structural Identity
- Organisation/Entity: Agency
- Project Type: Packaging
- Project Status: Published
- Agency/Creative Country: Brazil
- Agency/Creative City: Porto Alegre
- Market Region: North America
- Project Deliverables: Design, Label Design, Packaging Design, Packaging Guidelines, Product Design, Structural Design
- Format: Bottle
- Industry: Food/Beverage
- Keywords: Bottle; Whiskey; Packaging; Whiskey Label; Label Redesign; Beverage; Drink; Alcohol; Bottle Design; Packaging Design
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Credits:
Creative Direction and Design: Erik Marchetti
Creative Direction and Design: Luis Felippe Cavalcanti
Creative Direction: José De Lazzari
Photography: Duda Busolin, Moropolo Studio
Photography Retouch: Patricia Thiesen
