Miso is a patient food. It ferments slowly, rewards care, and ends up on the table of an ordinary family meal. When Koji Food Company asked us to create the packaging art for their miso range, we wanted the prints to carry that same unhurried, handmade spirit.

Working from Koji’s art direction, we illustrated three designs in our studio in Ho Chi Minh City. Each was carved as a woodcut, printed by hand, and finished with hand-painted watercolour. The carving gives every image its bold, confident line, and the watercolour gives it warmth. The result is packaging that feels closer to a small print than a label.

Tương Miso Trắng
Two children sit side by side at a kitchen counter, each cradling a bowl of miso soup. Behind them, a clay pot & teapot sit on a shelf, and bottles line the wall. In the foreground, a row of bowls waits on the counter. It is a quiet, everyday moment, the kind of shared meal that makes a home feel like a home.

Tương Miso Trộn
A woman in an apron stands in her shop, holding a bowl of miso in both hands. Jars & baskets fill the shelves behind her, a fan turns on the wall, and plants spill in from the edge of the frame. She is the neighbourhood food seller we all know, proud of what she makes & happy to hand it over.

Tương Miso, Loại Đồng Quê
A farmer in a conical hat leans down to pass a steaming bowl to a child, while terraced hillsides roll away behind them. This is the countryside connection at the heart of the range: food that travels from the land, through careful hands, to the people who eat it.

Each design carries its product name in Vietnamese, and the hand-painted versions also include Japanese characters reading natural brewed miso (天然酿造味噌) & raw miso (生味噌), a small nod to the craft’s origins. The designs now appear on Koji’s packaging, so a jar on the shelf becomes a small piece of storytelling.

Projects like this are why we love commissions. They let us bring traditional printmaking into everyday life & connect craft, culture, and food across borders.

 

Thank you to Koji Food Company for trusting us with this one.

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Interested in a custom woodcut commission for your own product or brand? Get in touch.