We received a beautiful print of Clara's as a gift when our eldest son was born, and I've tracked her career and admired her creations ever since. Lots of her work has an architectural quality about it- which appeals to me for obvious reasons- but mostly I trusted in her to deliver something fresh, with her thorough and unique eye- and she didn't disappoint!
Also, since our mats don't lend themselves to be printed upon, I knew from quite early on that I wanted to inject a playful visual component via our branding and ancillary products. I heard the ladies from Kip & Co- who's work I adore- once on a podcast discussing how the tote bags that they released with each collection almost became as coveted as the releases themselves, and I became somewhat enamoured with that idea.
Clara instantly understood the brief and we exchanged references on the basis of slightly retro-leaning line drawings with a smidgen of mischief or built-in calamity. I knew that I wanted our packaging to leave as little a trace as possible, but equally that, as we are starting out predominately online, it's essentially our virtual shop floor. So, after whittling down my references, I settled on the big sticker on a recycled cardboard box quite early on.
The colouring-in sheet as tissue paper was also part of the early stage brief. And over time I searched out a suitable provider for our tote. The criteria were quite clear. In the best case it would be wipeable, vibrant, easily foldable, have a large capacity, and most importantly be ethically and sustainably produced.
LOQI have been an excellent partner from day one, even itterating over the past few months to remove any non-recyclable components from the design, and using only fully recylable polyester. Our vision is that each subsequent tote design will mark a new collection or release- so I hope this partnership will grow even stronger in the future.
Greetings cards for gifting for birthdays and new baby presents were always part of the plan- we opted for a spin on the base image, swapping out the colour tones and honing in on some key elements.
All in all, we couldn't be more thrilled with the result- the contrasting itterations and colour-play layer up so beautifully!
THE STORY BEHIND OUR PACKAGING
Illustration Introducing Clara San Millan in collaboration with studio huske. Ta-chán! was born as the celebration of discovery, at any time and in any situation, led by the ritual of unrestrained fantasy that is unleashed while playing. This tote bag is part of a branding suite prepared in advance of the our first product launch. The brand focus is on building mess-resistance into everyday children's products and thereby supporting both parents and kids in enabling carefree, open-ended, sensory play. As you know, studio huske products are designed to look and feel beautiful to both the adult and child's eye and yet be very functional. The same brief stands for the illustration- and I certainly feel we got there with Clara's vision.