Heavenly Palace

Design: XPOM branding agency
Location: Russia
Project Type: Produced
Client: Europa trading Ltd
Product Launch Location: Global
Packaging Contents: Tea
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Metal, tin
Printing Process: Flexography, offset printing

To develop a packaging design for a line of Chinese tea consisting of 3 sku, which differ in grammage and types of tea. Consumers of the product are connoisseurs of real Chinese tea who purchase the product in specialized tea houses or order tea online. The developed packaging confirms that a high-quality authentic product can be purchased in federal retail chains, and not only in themed boutiques. The product is presented in the high-priced segment.

The design style is based on two references. The first of them is tea houses.

Tea houses – public places in cities where people gathered to spend time with a cup of tea, appeared in the Tang era, and the Song era was their heyday. They were especially popular in the south of China, since the southerners loved tea, but there were quite a few houses in the north of China.

The second reference is Chinese porcelain (blue and white ceramics). Blue and white ceramics became popular by the 14th century, and China became a center for mass production of these products. Currently, porcelain items with blue-blue patterns have become a real visiting card of the Middle Kingdom.

The facades of the houses are decorated with detailed illustrations inspired by classical Chinese motifs by ancient masters. Geishas in the clouds of tea steam, bamboo roof tiles, Chinese lanterns – everything adjusts to peaceful thoughts and pleasant tea drinking. The product line consists of three varieties of traditional Chinese tea: classic green tea “Wise Stork”, Oolong tea “Calm Cuckoo” and green tea with jasmine Free Dove. The varieties of tea are metaphorically represented by the images of birds that live in China – the wise stork, the calm cuckoo and the free dove. The idea of the designers is that a bird flying over a covered house casts a shadow, and the higher the house, the less the distance from the bird to the roof surface, respectively, the cast shadow is shorter.

The functional feature of the packaging is that boxes of different sizes (40, 80 and 150 g) can be stacked on top of each other, thus creating a three-story teahouse. Separately, each box is a one-story teahouse. The set is interesting to collect, and the assembled teahouse will decorate any kitchen shelf.