Tiago Russo

Tiago Russo is the CEO and founder of Craft Design, a premium & luxury product design studio that aims to elevate the experiential and immersive emphasis of design onto high-end creations, primarily focused on the spirits market.

Over the last decade Russo has designed for some of the most respectable brands in the world. His impressive portfolio spans the luxury lifestyle domain from spirits to cosmetics, automotive to timepieces including: The Macallan, Dewar’s, The Dalmore, Craigellachie, Bacardi, Louis Vuitton, Patek Philippe, Coty Inc. and McLaren, to name a few, with his most recent work being heavily associated with the ascension to stardom of Craft Irish Whiskey, a company that saw through dedicated design development, all world records and accolades being achieved within the luxury whiskey market.

Russo has been obsessed with detailed design for much of his career and holds a Master’s degree in Product Design with Automotive Design specialisation. With a whole career implausibly dedicated to design, Russo is the ultimate perfectionist, always focused on making ideas a reality with a spirit of purpose, accuracy and finesse. Mastering the full design process from concept through to production, Russo is continuously immersing himself in culture and innovation to create pioneering, meaningful designs.

Revelation Designer of the Year in 2014 and collecting several awards and accolades over the last decade, Russo has been labelled one of the greatest luxury spirits and packaging designers of today. His design work for Craft Irish Whiskey started with ‘The Devil’s Keep’, an ultra-rare whiskey that attained the world record for the most expensive inaugural whiskey bottle ever sold, followed by a vast portfolio of successful products that culminate in the creation of The Emerald Isle collection, the rarest and most expensive whiskey on the planet, turning into another set of global achievements on Russo’s career.

Achieving over 110 design awards across his career so far, the last 3 years have been marked as true highlights where Russo has achieved 2 Platinum A’Design awards, for The Emerald Isle collection and his newest whiskey creation, The Storyteller, joined by two Red Dot Design Awards for the groundbreaking achievements in designing the specialist whiskey glasses, The Érimón and The Finn, culminating in Tiago Russo being the luxury packaging designer of the year since 2022 alongside Craft Design becoming the most successful creative studio on the planet over the same time.

After dedicating his career thus far to developing innovative, disruptive languages that elevate brands, products and unleash the potential of design as the ultimate tool of product enhancement, Russo has become a regular jury member in some of the world’s most reputable design awards, such as iLuxury, Muse Awards, or NY Product Design Awards, and has now become a regular speaker within the luxury markets development at global events such as the London Packaging Week, as part of his vision to bring back to design communities the creative culture and insights into elevating this unique field of expertise.