Present Development
This segment discusses the Expertise Areas related to my Final Bachelor Project (FBP), Meeting Mead.
​​​
​
FBP DESCRIPTION​
My Final Bachelor Project, Meeting Mead, is a design and research project that aims to reintroduce mead to a modern audience and context. Mead, also known as honey wine, is one of the oldest known alcoholic beverages to be discovered, and it has had prominent social and cultural significance throughout history. However, mead slowly declined in popularity due to shifts in culture and market demand, and today it has become a relatively obscure drink in most of Western Europe.
This project contributes to the revival of mead by bridging historical tradition with contemporary culture, using design as a tool to reshape how mead is perceived and experienced today. Through the development of diverse mead recipes, the creation of a curated tasting experience, and the exploration of new contexts and rituals for mead consumption, this work highlights the drink’s versatility and potential relevance in modern settings. By combining research, sensory design, and user engagement, the project demonstrates how mead can be reintroduced not just as a beverage, but as a meaningful cultural and social experience. This contribution offers a foundation for building a renewed appreciation of mead and encourages further exploration into how design can support the revival of forgotten or overlooked traditions.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
.jpg)
BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP
For future developments, I would like to actualize this project and start up a company to continue crafting more mead. To assess the viability if such a company can operate, I looked into the logistics of producing mead by calculating the operating costs and final sale price which I can later assess if it matches with the market supply and demand. I will elaborate further on the operation cost analysis calculations later in the Math, Data and Computing segment.
I have developed a business model canvas that reflects how the company would operate during initial start up; This is based on my current network of suppliers, potential clients, and experts I have gotten in touch with. This business model will likely update in the future as the company grows and develops​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Moreover, I have discussed with a business consultant at the Chamber of Commerce to discuss what the process of setting up a company would be. This led me to get in touch with:
​
-
NVWA (Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority)
-
KVNW (Royal Association of Dutch Wine Merchants)
-
CRAFT (Representative of independent breweries in the Netherlands)
-
Douane (Customs for Excisable Products by the Ministry of Finance)
-
Beverage and Alcohol Professional Experts
Through contacting these institutions and experts, I have compiled a list of permits, certificates and licenses I would need to acquire:
​
-
HACCP certificate (for safe food and beverage production)
-
Sociale Hygiene diploma and registration (for serving alcohol responsibly)
-
Register KVK (Register business)
-
Register Alcohol License (Excise Duty registration)
-
Environmental and Municipal Permit (Zoning compliance)
Additionally, a company must have a brand identity, which includes visual and aesthetic elements to create a distinct image or identity. This will be elaborated below, in the Creativity and Aesthetics segment.
CREATIVITY & AESTHETICS
One of my main goals in this project was to create a mead tasting experience, which involved a combination of multiple factors:
Varied and unique Mead Recipes
Through first person research I have explored, sampled and catalogued a wide variety of ingredients, including 20 different honeys, 8+ yeast strains, and aging flavor additions, such as 3 different types of oak. In the end I crafted 32 different types of meads. Such variation enabled me to experiment and improve my recipes, trying out unique flavor combinations. Thereafter I selected different 5 meads for the following group tasting session, which provided variation, including dry, sweet, traditional and spiced meads. Since taste is subjective, I wanted to provide a variation of flavors so that everyone who tries mead can find a mead that matches their preferences, making it a more versatile and accessible beverage. Additionally, this is important to assess which type of meads people preferred, and can be later used to determine which recipes are viable for potential commercial production.
Multisensory Tasting Cards
Tasting mead is a multi sensorial process. To help guide participants to fully engage with their senses, I created custom Tasting Cards. These cards helped break down the different elements to assess, such as: Appearance, Aroma, Tasting Notes, Texture/Mouthfeel, and more.
Bottle Presentation and Visual Aesthetic
They say “People drink with their eyes”, which means that their visual perceptions of the drink, such as the bottle in which it is contained, may influence their expectations and judgment. Hence, I selectively choose a suitable bottle type and shape that would best convey the notion of mead as an alcoholic beverage. Furthermore, I customized the bottle by creating labels with an engaging and modern aesthetic to fit in a contemporary society. (AI generated) Illustrations depicted the flavours of each mead, provoking curiosity for people to try them.
Bottle sample selection
2nd and 3rd Iteration Labels
3rd Iteration Label Examples
Brand Identity
As the mead-maker, I also wanted to portray my brand identity in the form of a logo on the labels. I designed a modern logo inspired by old Viking runestones to give a nod to mead’s inspiring history. It depicts two people toasting a traditional drinking horn, symbolizing the social aspect of how mead brings people together. Additionally, I experimented with traditional wax seals by making a custom brass stamp to provide a unique aesthetic to the bottles.
Custom Brass Wax Stamp
Vermillion Red
Wax Seal
Clay Stamp Test on
1st Iteration Bottle
MATH, DATA & COMPUTING
Determining the operational costs is an important step to assess if it is a viable business model. I made an operation cost analysis by assessing the recurring costs of ingredients, materials and rent to calculate the cost of production over time. Thereafter I factor in excise tax, VAT tax, bottle size, and markup cost to determine an estimate for the final sale cost. The final sale cost can later be compared to the market competition, supply and demand.
TECHNOLOGY & REALIZATION
A personal vision of mine is to one day set up my own company. Therefore, I had the goal of creating a high-fidelity and professional product that had a viable business model. This required an orchestration of bringing the different expertise areas together:
Firstly, I developed my method of producing mead. This involved researching fermentation methods, recipe experimentation (C&A), and setting up custom fermentation tools and equipment (for example: custom temp control fermentation chamber).
Secondly, I introduced people to mead in the form of a multisensorial mead tasting experience. Through a semi-structured interview with participants, I explored how mead could find a suitable context in a modern society (C&A and U&S).
Thirdly, I considered operational costs of mead production to determine commercial viability (B&E and M,D,C).
Yeast Rehydration and Inoculation
3rd Batch Carboy
Fermentation Container
Custom Temperature Controlled Fermentation Chamber
USER & SOCIETY
Through conducting a semi-structured interview during a group tasting session, I discussed with participants potential contexts for mead in a modern society. This helped me link the different varieties of mead to different contexts, for example, with food pairings.
Moreover, with the goal of introducing mead to people, I wanted to develop a mead culture through exploring potential practices, rituals or traditions. I did this by exploring different types of drinking vessels. The drinking vessel plays a large role in people’s perception and overall experience when drinking mead. Therefore this project explored a variety of different drinking vessels to determine which provides the most favorable experience when drinking mead. Additionally, inspired by ancient drinking vessels, I had a custom Methercup made in collaboration with a ceramist. By associating unique drinking vessels to mead, I take the first step to building a tradition that may promote a mead culture to develop.
Mead Introduction and
Semi-structured Interview
Mead Tasting Setup
Drinking Vessel Collection
Custom made
Methercup
REFLECTION
Throughout this project I recognized how important it was to collaborate with experts, third parties, and other specialists. By getting in touch with the NVWA I learned about the standards for commercial food and beverage production; And through the business consultant and Excise customs I learned about setting up a company, certificates, licenses and permits.
Additionally, after my internship I developed more confidence in having a standard to produce high quality products, and learning business operations through social networking, and stakeholder outreach. Moreover, this made me realize how important it was to present products professionally, especially during exhibitions. This motivated me to pay attention to the detail in aesthetics, such as the label design, wax stamps, bottle selection etc; Because it is a combination of the details that add up to the overall user experience.
