Responses by Paloma Losada and Jorge Palomar, cofounders, Tea for Two.

Background: This project aimed to create easily recognizable olive oil bottles that gourmet food shops could sell. It was pertinent that customers familiar with olive oil could quickly distinguish between different varieties. With Amber, we wanted to avoid having them look over-the-top, posh and exclusive, but instead cultivate a modern, cool, elegant yet affordable character.

Design thinking: We based the guiding thread of the collection on the choice of two colors that feature on all three containers: yellow to evoke the olive oil and dark green as a tint for the ceramic bottle to elegantly highlight all the elements featured on it. We adjusted the palette by opting for different colorways for the three varieties of oil: orange for the Cornicabra, blue for the Arbequina and green for the Hojiblanca. In addition, to provide a contrasting element, we used a typeface family that is both simple and full of subtle details, adding personality to the design without detracting from the print.

Challenges: To find an original solution that visually linked to the world of olive oil.

Favorite details: The use of an exclusive pattern: olive leaves, olives and other elements associated with the product, enriched with a color palette based on the olive’s aspects. We decided to embark on the project with Studio Gudulab, a designer of manual prints specializing in food products. As Studio Gudulab designer Carmen Jiménez comments, the prints “are based on hand-carved stamps, … sometimes based on natural elements and sometimes on abstracts, construing a very modern and unconventional result.”

New lessons: The first thing we had to learn was about the differences between the varieties of olives and the type of oil extracted from each, as well as the production process from harvesting to packaging.

When we work with talented illustrators—as we usually do—we have a fascinating back and forth process in which we push each other forward to get the best solution. So, we also learned from this about the hand-carved stamps Studio Gudulab uses. And like almost everything we learn along the way, they seem like whole exciting worlds to us.

Time constraints: The project started as the redesign of an already existing bottle available in a huge Spanish chain of supermarkets, but it gradually led to something completely new. We had to change course a bit on the fly, but that also gave us more freedom to create without the logical constraints we would have inherited from the previous design.

tea-for-two.com