Design: TORO PINTO
Location: Mexico
Project Type: Produced
Packaging Contents: Cajeta (classic Mexican candy)
De la Lira is a tribute made project for all the immigrants in the world, especially Mexican people going into the US
Cajeta is a classic Mexican candy made with smoked milk and sugar. Even though it is known throughout Mexico it is essential to the states of Guanajuato and Jalisco. Although now sold in plastic and glass jars, the artisan way of packaging it is in bent wood containers that give the cajeta a special flavor.
We are all immigrants. Even at the studio, Toro Pinto, many of the team members come from different places. We find a heroic drive in people that take their belongings and create a home far away from their own. With De la Lira cacards we pay respect and admiration on to all of those who migrate. Cajeta comes in little boxes that travel around as figurative luggages. Some even say that cajeta comes from the words cajita which means small box.
We developed the brand name De la Lira which makes a reference to the etymology of the word groove, which means lines on the ground. This word appears also in the word delirar, which translates as delirious meaning to walk away from the lines on the ground. This idea of lunacy relates directly to the overall graphic style of the brand being that the inspiration mainly came from the Mexican artist Martín Ramirez who was an immigrant and spent a lot of time in a mental institution because of mental health problems. He created most of his most important pieces in this place.
In his body of work, Ramírez depicts the sensation of travel, spaces, desolation and the urge of going back home. The brand is a tribute to those that leave home, travel, insanity, creation and the never ending desire of going back. A connection of cultural references that reminds us about the journeys that give us meaning.