FOLLOWING the success of James Cropper’s partnership with Islay single malt Scotch whisky brand Bruichladdich, bringing the first of its Luxury Redefined range to market with a fully sustainable outer wrap, the papermaker has created the next instalment for the brand’s new Global Travel Retail (GTR) range – The Bruichladdich Twenty One.
Available in London Heathrow, Dubai Airport and Singapore Airport from the end of June, The Bruichladdich Twenty One whisky wrap is made from fully recyclable paper pulp and moulded to the shape of the Bruichladdich optimised, proprietary glass bottle.
The brief given to James Cropper was to create ‘conscious, modern, luxury’ packaging.
Similar in design to The Bruichladdich Eighteen and The Bruichladdich Thirty, which launched earlier this year, The Bruichladdich Twenty One wrap is custom in colour and shape with emboss and deboss features. The design also includes a branded, oversized custom clasp feature. Using 100% fresh fibre, James Cropper explained that the wrap is ‘significantly lighter’ than previous packaging solutions without compromising strength or integrity while reducing Bruichladdich’s packaging CO2 impact.
James Cropper was tasked with creating a bespoke colour which still spoke to the wider Bruichladdich range and the brand’s signature aqua hue.
The team worked to overcome metamerism – when two colours that are not the same colour appear identical under certain lighting conditions. The colour match process went through several iterations over a number of years, before the team got to the final Bruichladdich Green shade. Once the colour was agreed it was taken to the colour lab in the James Cropper mill and transferred onto moulded fibre.
Natalia Williams, product manager at James Cropper, said, “Matching the colour was a challenge because we had to consider the particular fibre mix. Colour and fibre are inter-related and influence each other, which impacts the translation factor. Think of a cake recipe, you must follow the recipe. Here we needed to produce a recipe which gave us the ability to counteract the variation in the other raw materials and control the final colour.
“Our 179 years of colour application in papermaking means we can apply our understanding of the chemistry into today’s design briefs, using moulded fibre. We are pushing the boundaries in terms of what is possible in coloured moulded fibre.”
The wrap is created using green energy and the wood pulp used in its creation is sourced from sustainably managed forests. Brought to life using a single material with no glue, the packaging is described as 100% recyclable in every household.
Gareth Brown, global marketing director at Bruichladdich Distillery, added, “Partnering with James Cropper on our Luxury Redefined packaging has been a natural fit. The company’s commitment to progress, innovation and sustainability aligns perfectly with our distillery values. Like our entire Luxury Redefined range, The Bruichladdich Twenty One demonstrates that sustainable packaging can be simultaneously stripped back and beautiful. Rather than adding elaborate packaging or unnecessary weight we have chosen to subtract, letting form follow function to rethink what modern luxury can, and should, be.
“Everything about this GTR exclusive – from the weight and functional design of the glass bottle to the recyclable materials, custom colour, and texture of the outer wrap – has been carefully considered by the team at James Cropper to ensure that our new single malt whisky expression exudes contemporary luxury, while staying true to our values.”