We’re going to party like it’s your birthday and designer Pavla Chuykina is going to make sure of it with her concept designs for 21º, a collection of cake-inspired alcoholic beverages.
The inspiration hit her in the midst of a friend’s birthday celebration when she jokingly said she was only turning a mere 21. It was this exchange that made Chuykina realize most women don’t like to reveal their actual age and that they much prefer to celebrate the act of staying forever young.
With that, Chuykina created 21º, with a name paying respect to the legal drinking age in most countries. From there, she crafted glass bottles shaped like birthday cakes and cupcakes with delicious flavors to match.
Currently, the designs remain a concept, but Chuykina has aspirations and hopes that one day they may be pushed into reality. We caught up with her to discuss her latest work.
Walk us through the design process. How did you go from start to finish on this project?
A celebratory cake is the centerpiece of any great birthday party, which is why the bottle is shaped like a cake – I wanted to keep it simple and recognizable.
The neck of the bottle represents the birthday candle while the label has a stripe pattern detail and the cap itself contains wax and a wick. Through researching and understanding the true meaning of B-day Party, my mood board inspired both my color palette and the celebratory details – all of which you find a party. A celebratory cake is the centerpiece of any great birthday party, which is why the bottle is shaped like a cake – I wanted to keep it simple and recognizable.
What’s the inspiration behind the cupcake and cake versions of the container?
21º was created to be a gift of alcoholic cocktails for birthday girls. And no birthday is complete without a cake.
The cupcake bottles, however, are the limited edition range for special moments.
Will each flavor be available in cake and cupcake form? Do the designs and colors correlate to the flavors?
The line of cakes consists of three flavors: Chocolate Orange Martini, Strawberry Dry Gin Dreams and Tropical Pina Colada. Each flavor combination corresponds to the color of the graphic.
For example, Chocolate Orange Martini has brown and orange stripes. Strawberry Dry Gin Dreams has pink for the strawberries and blue for gin. The Cupcakes have their own flavors but still align to the same color strategy as the Cake design range.
Do you see any issues with having wax and a wick available at the top of each bottle?
The cap details (wax and a wick) may complicate mass production, as it could lead to higher prices for the product on the shelf. 21º sits within the premium category of alcoholic beverages. Therefore it can allow such specialized design finishes.
