Ithaca — Olive Packaging Design

Ithaca is a conceptual olive packaging project inspired by Homer’s Odyssey and Odysseus’ journey back home.

The concept connects Greek heritage, the Mediterranean Sea and the idea of returning home. A simple glass olive jar is transformed into a sculptural object through a removable sleeve inspired by a classical Greek column.

The identity combines contemporary typography, Mediterranean colours and nautical imagery. Three olive varieties are represented through three colourways — blue, ivory and navy — creating a unified packaging system with individual visual identities.

Curator’s Insight

The central question in Ithaca is where a classical reference should sit on a modern jar. Here the olives take the place of the column shaft, so the product is the architecture rather than something placed inside it. The scrolled capital doubles as a lid with a stacked, angular wordmark pressed into its flat face. This gives the system an inscribed, carved quality that suits the subject. The sun, crescent and full moon on the labels read as a day-to-night sequence, which gives the three colourways a logic beyond simple flavour coding. Gold bands mark the joins between sleeve and glass, so the structure reads as assembled from parts.