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SAWAI Branding

A brand identity and packaging system for a chai-spiced rum. Blending Indian tradition with Caribbean flair, the design signals craft, origin and quality with bold, layered storytelling.

Credits

  • Chris Nott
  • William Richardson
  • Fabio Ziplies

Client

  • Sawai

Services

  • Type-led Branding
  • Packaging
  • 3D and Motion Design

The Product

SAWAI is a new chai-spiced rum brand, crafted using all-natural ingredients, and distilled in small batches to ensure a unique taste and superior quality. Chai Tea is a family favourite within Indian/South Asian communities and is traditionally made up of black tea and a mixture of spices. It has a bold tea flavour with sweet and spicy hints. Many of the botanicals are already traditionally associated with spiced rum—so adding the tea and additional spices make for a familiar yet unique experience.

A title of honour used in the Indian subcontinent—Sawai (सवाई in Hindi) literally translates to 1¼ of an average person’s worth—setting a high standard for the quality of the product itself. Boasting a balanced flavour with the subtle intricacies of cinnamon, clove, star anise for warmth, and green cardamom for spice. It further infuses with earthy undertones of ethically sourced Assam tea. The result is a uniquely complex spiced rum that pays homage to the tea-farming communities in the Assam region of India.

The Brand and Packaging

Borrowing visual cues from India and the Caribbean, Studio DRAMA created an authentic, and luxurious packaging experience. A rich colour palette balances evocative ingredient stories and mouth-watering drink imagery.

The playful visual language of stamps takes inspiration from the graphics found on 19th Century tea chests and rum barrels. These types of stamps were often used as a sign of quality assurance or product origin. This similarly inspired the typographic story, a slab serif that had equal amounts of authority and authenticity. For Hindi translations – a modular-style, Devanagari script with broad-edged pen like characteristics was applied to complement the primary slab-serif typeface.

Glamour
Next

The DRAMA starts here.


Let’s talk.

General Enquiries

hello@studio-drama.com

Find us

109, Brickfields, 37 Cremer St,
London, E2 8HD, United Kingdom

© 2025 Studio DRAMA. All rights reserved.

Typeset in Muster Grotesk by Florian Runge

Website by Oliver Brown

DRAMA