September 22, 2026 — Luxury packaging specialist Hunter Luxury has secured double Gold at the 2026 MUSE Design Awards for the Jack Daniel’s x McLaren Halo MK1 Limited Edition, earning international recognition for both the technical design and engineering required to bring the limited edition to life.
Following evaluation by the MUSE Design Awards’ international judging panel, Halo MK1 was named a Gold winner in Packaging Design – Brand Partnership / Collaborations and Packaging Design – Limited Edition.
The double victory recognises two qualities that sit at the heart of the project: the translation of two globally recognised brands into one compelling physical experience, and the technical achievement required to turn an ambitious creative concept into a limited edition that could be manufactured consistently at scale.
The original Halo MK1 design concept was created by the Jack Daniel’s Design team at Brown-Forman as part of the brand’s partnership with the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team, taking inspiration from Formula 1’s Halo safety device. Hunter Luxury was tasked with bringing that ambitious creative vision to life, leading the development, engineering, prototyping and manufacture required to turn it into a fully engineered, manufacturable limited edition.
Bringing the concept to life required more than 50 custom components spanning eight materials and eight manufacturing processes, brought together through the development and engineering programme led by Hunter Luxury.
The result is an experience designed to feel remarkably simple, despite the complexity required to deliver that movement precisely and repeatedly.
Finished in electrophoresis matte black with McLaren Papaya accents, Halo combines the visual identities of its two partners with details drawn from their respective histories. The number 58 honours the racing number used by Bruce McLaren, while the number 7 references Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7.
Paul Hamilton, Head of Sales & Marketing at Hunter Luxury, said: “The challenge with Halo wasn’t simply to make the mechanism work. It was to translate an extraordinary creative idea into something that could be manufactured consistently at scale, while preserving the simplicity and elegance of the original concept.
“More than 50 components have to work together precisely, yet the person interacting with Halo should never see that complexity. They press the button and the experience simply unfolds.
“That takes an enormous amount of collaboration, engineering and attention to detail, so to receive two MUSE Gold awards, recognising both the limited-edition design and the brand collaboration behind it, is particularly special. We’re grateful to Brown-Forman and McLaren for trusting us to help turn such an ambitious idea into reality.”
The MUSE Design Awards is an international programme recognising excellence across architecture, interior, product, lighting, packaging and conceptual design. Its international jury brings together senior creative and design professionals.
The double Gold further strengthens Halo MK1’s growing international awards record. The project has already received Gold at the London Design Awards, Gold and Silver at the Tokyo Design Awards and an AmeriStar Design Excellence Award, as well as Bronze at the International Spirits Challenge. It has also been shortlisted at the 2026 Pentawards and named a finalist in both the London Packaging Week Innovation Awards and UK Packaging Awards.
