The most popular drink in Japan is sake. It has a very particular history and its production process has led it to be considered the property of the gods.

This design project takes as its icon the Himalayan bear, an animal that lives in Japan, is characterized by its great power and strength, attributes of the sake drink.
The coloor blue symbolises the ocean that surrounds the country, hence the name Ao Kuma: the blue bear.

The design focuses on a balanced piece with an important cultural load, that when you see it quickly and for the first time you see Japan before you know what it is, transmit the Japanese essence.
The idea was to make a design that is down to the smallest detail, as if it were a craftsman’s work, characteristics that reflect the way the Japanese do things.

Sake is produced from the grain of rice. But unlike other fermentation-produced beverages, the enzymes that break down starch molecules into fermentable sugars do not come from these grains, as the grains have been ground to remove the outer portions and therefore cannot be malted.

These enzymes are provided by a mold called koji-kin (Aspergillus oryzae), which is deliberately grown on steamed rice. This is the process that provides the enzymes that will perform the required saccharification.

The steamed rice on which this koji-kin has been spread is mixed with more steamed rice, water, and yeast in a single tank. Here’s the key point: mold saccharification and yeast fermentation take place in the same tank and at the same time. This process occurs only in the Sake of all alcoholic beverages, and is known as heiko fukukakkoshiki or “multiple parallel fermentation”.

The whole Sake production process could be divided into 9 steps, which are essential and cannot be understood separately.