Kazakhstani brand strategist Yrysty Yerden has won bronze at the 2026 Pentawards, an international packaging design competition. Kursiv LifeStyle looks at how she reimagined the packaging of kumys, a traditional Kazakh drink made from fermented mare’s milk, and what other awards the project has received.
Yerden received the award for her conceptual project SAF Qymyz, a packaging design for a traditional Kazakh drink. The Pentawards winners were announced at a ceremony in London on Oct. 16. The kumys comes in aluminum cans, while two kese — traditional Kazakh drinking bowls — on the packaging reference the custom of sharing kumys.
«SAF» comes from the Kazakh word for «pure.» The project aims to bring kumys back into the everyday lives of young urban residents.
«SAF grew out of a simple question: Why does a drink with a thousand-year history still lack a modern form? I think we have many things like this — powerful in their own right, but not yet translated into a language today’s city understands,» Yerden said.
So far, the brand exists only as a concept.
Pentawards is an international packaging design competition. In 2026, it received more than 2,000 entries from 66 countries, with over 700 projects making the shortlist. SAF Qymyz had previously won gold at the 2026 DIELINE Awards, a US-based packaging design competition, in the Low-Alcohol and No-Alcohol Drinks category.
