The Collected Works designed Sooki Sesame Oil around a hand-drawn cast

Sooki is both the founders’ nickname for their mother, and the name Joseph and Hannah Choi gave to the Korean sesame oil they spent years developing at their family mill in South Korea. The oil is roasted at lower temperatures and pressed without solvents, which gives it a golden colour distinct from the deep amber familiar on American shelves. The Chois wanted the brand to register that distinction before anyone had tasted a drop, and commissioned The Collected Works to make it visible through the brand design. The studio’s response is built around a character. Sooki herself appears on the front of the label as a small, round-cheeked figure in a red headscarf, drawn by the studio’s designer Zedan. She is joined by a wider cast – Sooki Boy, an animated egg, a sheet of stickers populated with skewers, noodle bowls, kimbap and dumplings – all rendered in the same hand-drawn style. The illustration system carries the family story and gives the identity a tactility that the more typographic conventions of the category tend not to offer. “We always knew there should be an illustrated component to the system, and that a hand-done touch was incredibly important,” Justin Colt, Partner & Creative Director at The Collected Works, explains. The studio worked closely on texture and materiality across the wordmark, the illustration set and the linen-finish label, with the aim of bringing warmth forward rather than reaching for vintage shorthand. “We definitely didn’t want to imitate vintage tropes or make this feel overtly old-fashioned,” Colt adds.