Bronze Packaging Design · 2026
Melodic Realm Baijiu Bottle
by Huang Yong
- A' Design Award 2026 Bronze Winner in Packaging Design
- Awarded April 15, 2026
- CLIENT: Ortho
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 5,288
- Verification code B68AFCCBB3 · Verify this award
About Melodic Realm Baijiu Bottle
Melodic Realm is a bottle designed for baijiu, a traditional Chinese spirit. The form is inspired by a Tang Dynasty gilded octagonal cup with musician motifs, and the eight-sided structure is reproduced in ceramic fired at high temperature. A physical vapor deposition coating gives the surface a gold-toned metallic luster with high hardness and good resistance to corrosion. Relief carvings of Han and other musicians run along the eight sides, recalling a scene of music playing from all directions. A clear acrylic case allows display from every side.
Yong Huang's design for the Melodic Realm Baijiu Bottle represents a compelling synthesis of traditional craft heritage and contemporary luxury packaging innovation, positioning this vessel within the distinguished lineage of ceremonial containers that transcend mere functional utility to become objects of cultural significance and aesthetic contemplation. The work demonstrates profound engagement with East Asian decorative arts traditions, particularly the practice of surface enrichment through relief ornamentation that transforms utilitarian forms into narrative-bearing objects worthy of ritual contexts and celebratory occasions. The designer's compositional achievement lies in the sophisticated orchestration of multiple formal registers, beginning with the bottle's elegant double-bulge silhouette that creates visual rhythm through volumetric expansion and contraction, echoing classical ceramic forms while maintaining contemporary clarity and manufacturing precision. The golden surface treatment, whether achieved through metallic coating, anodization, or precious metal application, establishes immediate association with value, celebration, and cultural prestige, the warm ochre-amber tonality suggesting both aged spirits within and the ceremonial importance of the vessel itself. The embossed relief decoration covering the central body demonstrates exceptional technical execution, with figural imagery that appears to depict musicians, ceremonial participants, or cultural guardians flanking architectural or symbolic central motifs, rendered in carefully calibrated low relief that provides sufficient dimensional variation to create subtle shadow play under ambient lighting while maintaining surface durability and tactile invitation. The diamond-point texturing of the neck section introduces geometric counterpoint to the organic figural relief below, creating haptic interest and visual sparkle through light refraction, while the flared triple-ridge cap suggests architectural elements, folded fabric, or ceremonial headwear, providing sculptural culmination to the vertical progression. The integration of calligraphic elements and product identification typography in crimson and black offers chromatic punctuation against the golden field, establishing visual hierarchy and cultural authenticity while maintaining the overall tonal harmony. This design invites consideration of how packaging functions as cultural ambassador, how surface ornamentation encodes heritage and celebrates craftsmanship, and how contemporary manufacturing technologies enable the revival and reinterpretation of traditional decorative vocabularies for new audiences and contexts.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Inspired by the Tang Dynasty national treasure "Gilded Octagonal Cup with Musician Motif", this work adopts ceramic to reproduce the classic octagonal structure. It is coated with PVD gilding technology, showing a noble metallic luster and durable texture. The relief carvings of musicians from Han and other ethnic groups undulate along the eight sides, vividly recreating the magnificent scene of "music playing from all directions".
- Dimensions & Packaging
- 30cmx12cmx9cm
- Production Technology
- This product uses high-white clay fired at 1280℃, accurately restoring the geometric structure of the Tang Dynasty octagonal gold cup. PVD physical vapor deposition technology applies a 2–3μm TiN coating with 2000HV Vickers hardness, presenting 24K gold luster and excellent corrosion and oxidation resistance.
The bottle relief is formed by five-axis CNC precision molds. The musician patterns are distributed along the octagonal surface with a texture depth of 0.3–0.5mm, reproducing the engraving style of the Tang Dynasty. The outer packaging adopts high-transmittance PMMA with light transmittance ≥92%, double‑polished for 360° panoramic display. It features high impact resistance and UV protection, reaching museum‑grade exhibition standards. - Design Challenge
- The core challenge of this project is to revitalize the millennium-old national treasure in modern design.
I. Replica Difficulty: The Tang octagonal gold cup has complex facets and musician patterns. Accurately reproducing its geometry on ceramic, while applying PVD gilding, requires repeated tests on ceramic shrinkage, coating adhesion, and color stability.
II. Visual Narrative Difficulty: Translating “music from all directions” into a static object demands undulating reliefs that create dynamic rhythm via light and shadow, letting the bottle resonate with Tang vitality.
III. Cultural Integration Difficulty: Linking ancient court banquets with Jiannanchun’s “National Liquor of the Tang Dynasty” identity to make heritage tangible.
IV. Exhibition Experience Difficulty: Packaging that balances protection and transparency, achieving museum‑style panoramic display for a timeless dialogue. - Project Duration
- It will be launched in Xi'an, China in March 2025 and conclude in Xi'an, China in January 2026.
- Operation Flow
- Inspired by the Tang Dynasty's "Gilded Octagonal Cup with Musician Motifs," and incorporating Jiannanchun's identity as the "National Liquor of the Tang Dynasty," this piece recreates the grand Tang Dynasty banquet ceremony of "Music from All Directions." The octagonal design is replicated, with a PVD gilding layer on ceramic, embossed musician motifs, and an acrylic display case. Designers, engineers, and historical consultants collaborated to complete the gilded porcelain bottle. This object serves as a time capsule, allowing users to engage in a dialogue with the Tang Dynasty through touch, sight, and sip, achieving a tangible inheritance of traditional culture.
- Research
- Inspired by the Tang Dynasty's "Gilded Octagonal Cup with Musician Motifs" and combining Jiannanchun’s identity as the "National Liquor of the Tang Dynasty", this work recreates the grand banquet scene of "Music from All Directions". It adopts a ceramic base and PVD gilding technology to restore the octagonal shape and musician reliefs, and is equipped with a high-transparency acrylic display case. Through CNC precision carving and high-temperature firing, it integrates the aesthetics of cultural relics with modern craftsmanship, enabling users to dialogue with the Tang Dynasty via touch and taste, and realizing the tangible inheritance of traditional culture.
- Inspiration
- Inspired by the Tang Dynasty national treasure "Gilded Eight-Sided Gold Cup with Musician Motif", the bottle shape replicates the classic eight-sided design of the gold cup, recreating the scene of Han and non-Han musicians dancing and playing music, vividly depicting the magnificent movement of "music playing from all directions".