“Create a packaging design for men’s jewellery that tells the story of ancient gemstones and literally takes you into the world of Aurum Brothers” … was the challenge we got with this design.
Aurum Brothers’ passion is providing men with custom luxury wrist-wear that is the perfect combination of style and comfort. They are on a mission to revive ancient crafting techniques, materials and stories the stones used to carry within them. So storytelling is one of the key missions at Aurum Brothers that we needed to translate into the packaging design.
For their new and most luxurious collection, named Varnos, we really wanted to create some added value with the pack design. Since the bracelets are very expensive (around 2.500,- EUR) the packaging also should give you the feeling that you are getting something special and opening it should be an experience.
At Aurum Brothers they use special gemstones in their products and every kind of gemstone has a different story. In ancient times, warriors used these gemstones and they believed it gave them special abilities, like strength and courage for example. Every kind of gemstone comes from a different part of the world, symbolizes a specific ability and suits a certain warrior.
To symbolize this story we created the “World of Aurum Brothers”. This consists out of 6 different types of illustrations (which we hand made). From these 6 different cultural and historically based illustrations we created 1 circle (world), shaped like a gemstone (with 6 cut surfaces). The main concept idea for the packaging was that this illustration should be the base on the packaging, and that by opening the packaging, you would open op the illustration (in other words, open op the “World of Aurum Brothers” and enter…).
The 6 different illustrations are based on the stones (and ancient warriors) that are mostly used in the bracelets of Aurum Brothers:
Hematite – Native American
Hematite – Romans
Obsidian – Mayans
Tiger Eye – African Tribes
Sodalite – Caral Society (Peru)
Obsidian – Japanese Samurai
Every bracelet is made on order and is made for each consumer’s individual wrist size. Looking at the price and the exclusive character of the bracelet we did not want to design a “one size fits all” packaging solution. So now for each single size, a special centrepiece (block) can be made, that fits the bracelet exactly. It is a fact that most Arum Brothers clients have several bracelets, and treat them like a fashion accessory. So they combine it with clothing, outfits etc. Sometimes they wear one bracelet for a couple of days, and than change it for another bracelet for a couple of days and so on. The centrepiece (block) from the packaging can be used to store the bracelet at nigh time. For example place the block on your nightstand, or on a dresser you use to dress yourself. This way the bracelet is protected from damaging on a hard surface and you have easy excess in times you are using it often (so you don’t have to use the entire big slide packaging).
Next to this the entire packaging is almost completely produced by hand, so it really takes a lot of craftsmanship. This is done on purpose to underline the craftsmanship that is used in the production of the bracelets, which are also made by hand by the Aurum Brothers goldsmiths.
