Hunter Luxury has partnered with family-owned distiller William Grant & Sons to once again push the boundaries of storytelling in packaging, this time by producing a fantastical Whimsical Watering Can gift set for the premium gin brand Hendrick’s.

Created in collaboration with Boundless Brand Design to celebrate the deep-rooted connection between the arts of gin distillation and botany, as well as the unique charm of the Hendrick’s brand, the limited edition set consists of a 70cl bottle of Hendrick’s Original gin inside a vintage-style watering can. The can is made from food-grade materials, ensuring it is fully functional and reusable. This means consumers can use it to cultivate cucumbers to enjoy with their gin, as a quirky cocktail server, or as anything else they desire.

The set will be rolled out exclusively in global travel retail from May 2025 while stocks last, forming the centrepiece of the brand’s strategy to focus on gifting and immersive, experiential activations. It will feature in: London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Luton, Dublin, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Singapore Changi, Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam Schiphol, Hong Kong, China, Delhi, Mumbai, New York JKF, Los Angeles, Miami, Melbourne, and Sydney airports.

A unique project for a unique brand

These memorable experiences are important to any brand, but for William Grant & Sons and its Hendrick’s brand, they are essential. The Hendrick’s identity is deliberately and proudly different from most premium spirits. The brand was founded in the late 90s – when gin itself did not have the trendy, cross-generational appeal it has today – with a disruptive spirit.

Hendrick’s gin recipe infused this quintessentially British spirit with quintessentially British ingredients – cucumber and rose – marking it out as a bold tastemaker in gin’s renaissance. Our job was to capture this penchant for the peculiar in a limited-edition travel retail set, combining the heritage of gin with the unique spirit that is central to the Hendrick’s brand.

At Hunter Luxury, that passion for disruption is one we share. So, when we were approached to create a pack that doubled as a watering can, paying tribute to both the botanical heritage of gin and the pioneering personality of Hendrick’s, we didn’t ask why. Our only question was ‘why not?’

Ticking every box

Luxury packaging is increasingly an integral part of consuming a product. Often, this means thinking outside the box – literally – to create something that delivers an experience that goes far beyond promoting, protecting, and preserving goods.

This was the remit for our collaboration with William Grant & Sons, which required us to blur the line between packaging, artistic statement, and functional tool during the development of the Hendrick’s Whimsical Watering Can. Not only did the end product have to represent Hendrick’s unique brand identity on-shelf and protect the 70cl glass gin bottle through the supply chain, but it also had to be suitable for use as both a cocktail server and as an actual watering can. All of this had to be achieved at scale and within the budget required.

Ticking all of these boxes in a single solution posed a number of profound technical challenges that only Hunter Luxury was capable of solving. It required us to use galvanised steel and stainless steel elements to ensure the product was compliant with food safety standards, which meant it could be used to serve drinks. The steel was powder-coated in black, matching the famous black bottles that are the Hendrick’s trademark.

The end result was a striking watering can with a circular aperture in the lid, providing visibility of the bottle neck and cap. With a tightly controlled smooth black powder-coated finish and delicate embossed details, including an elegant, punched metal gold rose fitted to the end of the spout, the rustic, charmingly simple aesthetic of the final product required a deceptively complex process to put together.

Each element of the steel structure had to be welded together with a watertight seam. The welding had to be executed within the tightest tolerances that dictated the angle of the spout and carrying handle as well as the neatness of the seam.

The design was also subject to extensive testing to ensure it was robust enough not just to survive the supply chain, but also to offer functionality to consumers for years after purchase. The potential applications of this product were limited only by the user’s imagination, whether as a drinks decanter, a flower vase, an ornament, or – of course – a fully functional watering can. Whatever the use, it was designed to be durable and reusable time and time again.

Tests included pour tests to assess the flow of liquid through the spout, vibration tests to ensure the final assembly could be transported without degrading in quality, water tightness tests, repetitive opening tests, and more.

Metalworking mastery

The final result was worth the effort. Metalworking has been a valuable craft since before the beginning of recorded history. And this project provides a clear demonstration of why – even when utilising modern production techniques, the many highly specific technical challenges it poses require a high level of technical expertise to overcome. However, the mastery of metal materials can produce results that no other material can replicate.

As metal packaging specialists, we have used it to great effect on a number of high-profile projects, including a Jack Daniel’s gift set themed on a classic diner-style jukebox, a Monkey Shoulder pack that doubled as a cocktail strainer, and a high-end, brushed aluminium, copper-effect presentation for The Glenlivet’s 40-year-old single malt Scotch.

That experience meant we had the design skills, material expertise, and agile supply chains necessary to deliver the project on time and within budget without compromising on the high-quality standards that the customer rightly demanded.

Most importantly, the customer was able to enjoy complete peace of mind throughout the process. Trust and reliability are at the core of our values at Hunter Luxury, and these values are as central to our process as any material in the supply chain. While we manufactured the pack with metal and the highest quality production and finishing techniques, the true value of a project like this lies in its intangible quality. In short, we took great care to imbue this pack with a soul.

That’s what separates luxury packaging from Hunter Luxury packaging.