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Bananagrams Pouch

At Toy Fair this past Sunday, I noticed this nice zippered pouch for Bananagrams’ Scrabble-like pieces. (Also cool: their spinner racks resemble banana trees.)

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Southern Alps

I came across Southern Alps while at the Fancy Food Show in July, and was immediately drawn to the packaging. The brand showcases the (excellent) product beautifully, letting the food itself attract the eye. Contrasting the earthiness of the product with a simple and cost-effective packaging solution and compelling copywriting makes this brand particularly striking.

Grow It

I like these tube-style carton sleeves for Gift Republic’s “Grow It” line. (I saw them last month at NYIGF.) The colorful, but economical packaging system for the so-called “garden-inspired starter kits” makes a good impact all together, on display.

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Menu Gift Boxes

At Gift Fair, since the emphasis is naturally on the products themselves, the packaging is often hidden away. Creative Danes’ booth was like this. Out on display were products from Menu A/S: a colorful series of rubber vases, organically shaped terracotta oil lamps, and other modernist housewares. But tucked onto the shelves underneath were some very nice gift boxes that these products come in.

Dark on the outside, photogenic on the inside, these Cinderella-like boxes perhaps don’t get the attention they deserve.

(A couple more Menu boxes after the jump...)

 

Good Plain Packaging from Kathleen Lewis

Even though I am not normally a “spa” sort of guy, I was very taken with the spare, minimalist labeling for Brooklyn-based Kathleen Lewis Beauty. Starting as a DIY soap maker, local enthusiasm for her products has grown to where she now offers an extensive line of candles, beauty and skin care products.

At Gift Fair, her discreetly-labeled products were arranged on racks of aluminum trays, giving the whole enterprise a kind of pharmacological vibe. Interesting, that her stated skin-care credo is “Do no harm.” (Same as the Hippocratic Oath!)

Graphic design for these labels was done by fine artist, James Dustin.

A nice detail, that Kathleen pointed out to me: the labels wrap around from the left leaving a gap on the right—rather than wrapping, front to back. (Sorry. It doesn’t show in these pictures.)

I must be typographically-challenged. It’s only just now dawning on me that the color area of each label represents an “L” for Lewis.

(More photos, after the jump...)

Kohler Chocolates

Kohler Chocolates makes several enticing chocolate products. Their bars are packaged very nicely and have a very elegant feel. The story behind Kohler is interesting. Destination Kohler is a resort/spa in Kohler, Wisconsin in the US. The parent company owns several international businesses. Many people know the Kohler name from kitchen and bath fixtures - this is actually only one of the companies under the Kohler name. It's interesting to see chocolate and plumbing fixtures under the same brand name, that's for sure. Still, they manage to keep everything distinct from each other. At the show, they told me the Kohler Resorts was making chocolates for sale within the resort itself. But, due to demand for their popular chocolates, they decided to make them available to the general public as retail products.

Olio & Spices - Fancy Food Show 2008

At the NYC Fancy Food Show earlier this month, I had the pleasure of meeting the folks behind Olio & Spices, an Israeli company with knock-out good sauces, spices and other great food products.  My favorite product line in their collection are these sauces. The solid band of color differentiates them easily, while witty ink draw characters add loads of personality to each bottle. A paper-wrapped cover on the lid highlights the gourmet nature of these products.

Packaging and branding by Tel Aviv-based PM Designers (Sharon Michaeli), who collaborated with illustrators Einat Peled and Michal Bonano.

I wasn't the only one to notice their great packaging - in  2006 Communication Arts awarded their spice  blend series (continue reading for an image of the spice blends and more...)

(thank you, Erez!)