OUR BOTTLE

During Japan’s closed-door era, empty gin bottles discarded by sailors on Dutch ships—granted exclusive trading rights—at Nagasaki later caught the eye of tea masters, who came to cherish them as Kelder—flower vases to adorn the tea room. This is why so many antique gin bottles have been passed down in Japan, preserved in paulownia boxes.

As a tribute to this rediscovery in art history, MAWSIM likewise calls its bottle a “Kelder” and designs it for second life—as a carafe, a vase, or a vessel of one’s choosing. Reusing it close to home is also one of the most sustainable choices.

  • If you choose not to reuse the bottle, please recycle it according to local guidelines.
  • Soak the bottle overnight to remove the label easily.

  • Kelder 1st

    July 2022 - September 2024

    First-generation Kelder bottles were made at a small factory in Tokyo using semi-artisanal methods.
    Each carried its own unique character—warbles, seeds, streaks, crackles, and swirl marks—ensuring that no two were ever the same.
    Though industrially produced, they held the quiet dignity of craft, embodying the origins of MAWSIM.

    <span>Kelder</span> 1st

  • Kelder 2nd

    from October 2024

    Second-generation Kelder bottles are made using fully automated molding, improving consistency and stability.
    At the same time, MAWSIM deliberately uses color-shifted bottles—difficult to recycle and typically discarded.
    Their unique gradation, fading from bright green to deep blue, makes each bottle one of a kind.
    While inheriting the individuality of the original in a new form, they reflect MAWSIM’s values of reversal and rediscovery—more radically than ever before.

    <span>Kelder</span> 2nd

What is a Kelder bottle?

The term Kelderfles—Dutch for “case bottle”—comes from the rectangular wooden cases in which such bottles were packed and transported by the dozen. With square vertical faces that allowed them to be stored efficiently and without gaps, these bottles required little cushioning and represented an energy-conscious design in early modern Europe.

Beginning in the 1570s, they were blown as common bottles in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Northern Germany. From the 1770s onward, as global gin consumption soared, the original vertical form gave way to a tapered shape—since vertical bottles tended to stick to the mold upon removal, making them ill-suited to mass production.

MAWSIM’s gin bottle is rebuilt from the ground up—molded anew for the present. Its distinctive hue evokes unknown jungles and medieval seas—a special craft bottle, worthy of the special craft gin it holds.