Scrumptious Bento Box Calendar

Designing the perfect print piece is a lot like preparing a delicious feast. It’s a well-thought-out combination of the right ingredients, all enticingly presented. 

If you’re starting to feel a little peckish then beware. This clever, Bento box-inspired calendar – produced by our good friends at Japan’s Ichikudo Printing Company and designed by frequent Ichikudo collaborator Hosoyamada Design Office – is sure to whet your appetite even more.

The calendar’s packaging is made using a custom pulp mold, which  gives this box not only a beautiful tactile feel but also allows for an extremely high emboss of the kanji for “Ichikudo.”

A textured orange paper bellyband with the calendar name printed in silver wraps around it, held together not with glue, but a simple notch system.

Tucked between the band and the box: a white paper holder containing chopsticks, or “otemoto” as it says on the wrapper.  

But wait – the chopstick packaging is more than meets the eye. It’s actually a wedge that you can use to display the calendar. It even includes a QR code that, when scanned, yields recipes for making the different treats inside!

All this and we haven’t even opened the box yet! So what are we waiting for…let’s dig in! 

Removing the lid reveals a stack of 12 calendar cards, one for each month of the year. Each is super-thick, made from 2 Iggesund Invercote Duo sheets duplex laminated together to make a single 1.6 mm thick board.  

Each is also illustrated with that particular month’s tasty bento box morsels, inspired by seasonal ingredients to suit different traditional Japanese occasions, including children’s bento boxes for May, and Christmas boxes for December. 

The illustrations and details are offset printed CMYK plus Gold or Silver ink, protected with an overall UV coating. 

On the back of each card, an illustration key reveals what each delicacy is, rendering its name in both English and Japanese.  

To use the calendar, simply put the month’s card inside the lid and prop it up in the bottom tray using the chopstick wedge. And voila – a calendar to make your mouth water all year long! 

This and other Ichikudo calendars can be purchased here.