Derrick Lin

Global

Design: Kaveri Zachariah
Location: India
Project Type: Produced
Client: Old Mercara
Product Launch Location: India
Packaging Contents: Peanut butter, Almond butter, honey & Coffee
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Glass bottle
Printing Process: Foil stamping, Digital Printing

About Old Mercara : The quaint & picturesque town of Mercara has come a full circle from Madikeri derived from the Raja’s name Muthuraja ‘Keri’ ( a small cluster of villages) to the anglicised Mercara, Favoured by the British. The British who came to these picturesque hills of Coorg saw a great similarity to Scotland, started coffee plantations and settled here. The way of the British life left a strong impression on the Coorgs in the form of plantation homes & adaptation of some of their culinary preferences such as aesthetically laid out tea tables, cakes, muffins, jams, jellies & dainty table linen.

It is this nostalgia for the old way of life, fast disappearing, that made Shanthala’s products “Old Mercara”. There are still many a home where elegant ladies serve tea in dainty China with lacy napkins & morsels of exquisite tasting cakes, tarts, etc., and their larder full of seasonal fruits made into Preserves, Jams, Wines & Chutneys. Old Mercara aims to bring to you the wholesome goodness of their larder, bottled & pickled with care and pride in their orchards and their skills. It is this that Old Mercara offers – the fragrance of brewed coffee, the syrupy goodness of honey, toasted bread with peanut butter, an assortment of jams and jellies. Some of these will graze your table, bringing you the genuine goodness and warmth that food prepared with care and love should do.

omgsogd omgsogd

Keeping in mind the nature of the brand, I worked with the following cues that helped me in the design process –

  1. Home made
  2. Organic
  3. Colonial
  4. Fine Dining
  5. Healthy Living
  6. Vintage

Hence, the use of cracked china , the birds of Coorg, the house that the client had resided, the flora and fauna in her garden were driving factors in the design process. The product was inspired by the dining culture and the product became a unique piece of crockery in it’s own way .Each of these illustrations were carefully hand drawn in an organic style to adhere to the organic factor that the brand believed in. The Product was aimed to look like a piece of china when kept on the table, as fine dining was an integral part of the brand’s image.

What’s Unique?
The product was inspired by the dining culture of Madikeri, India and became crockery of its own – this was the USP of the brand. Bringing cracked china, gold rims and victorian styled birds along with the dining etiquette back into our daily routine.