4 of My Favorite Food Packages From the UK

I have a difficulty glorifying what will eventually become recycling in one hand – on the other, I find some packaging terribly alluring and adore something done pretty.

Design is a significant part of our lives (both through Dana`s company,our circle of friends, passionate interest and my own work which is amateur by the standards of the professionals around me but is better than most 3 year olds can do). It`s part of my fascination with travel and compulsion to visit foreign grocery stores to see what is local for someone else.

Here`s four of my recent favorites:

Vintage Food Packaging Archive

It’s Monday – time to get the brain warmed up and charged for the week ahead. Click here to do just that.

The link above ties to an online archive of one mans (Dan Godsell) collection of food packaging from the 1950s-1970s. It’s a little click-heavy but the treasures you will find are well worth it.

It’s fascinating to examine the packaging in the context of what is happening in food today. What role did early packaging play in changing our relationship to food? Do you notice that there are no health claims? After clicking 30 or 40 images I also didn’t find any claims of “easy” or “fast” though there were several options for “free toy inside.”

Happy Monday!

Awesome local food packaging…

The domain of design on this blog belongs to Dana – a 15 year Graphic Designer with her own business makes her our resident expert. I have learned a lot about design from Dana and many of our friends who make careers from design. Discussions around our house frequently discuss the value of form over function (and the inverse), the role of design in food (and other things) and the general presence of visual stimuli all around us.

I was at the large grocery store on Sunday (there are far fewer markets opened on Sundays – though I am told a good one exists in Unionville). We do buy from the large chains as well as the markets – where possible we try to be local. We had company coming and I was in a pinch so off to the market. Found some pork, carrots, parsnips and needed another veg. I went to the squash section and noticed a lot of imported gourds when closer inspection revealed this beast (it is about 3 pounds):

Orange you glad for change – Jones Soda does Obama

We have had the King of Pop and now the President of Soda.

Packaging

Honey I Love Your Buns (Gorgeous Cakes from Dorset)

Yesterday we covered a product which I thought had a great start (Juice Republic) and then fell short when it came to execution – especially with it’s on-line presence.

Today, we’ll examine the opposite. Honeybuns were sweet little cakes/brownies sold in a small tin like one would carry for lunch:

Juice Republic – It’s a Cold World War in the Fridge

Day 13 of being in the UK – 5 hours of sleep lie ahead before 5-6 hours of work and by 12 noon I’ll be in a car on the way to the airport for a 3.30PM flight. It’s been a rewarding and challenging trip all at once. I haven’t had nearly the amount of time or ability to explore as I intended or desired and much of the time not working has been in the hotel room. It has been a great trip and I’ll have some items to share on my return – not nearly as many a I wished.

Today’s highlight (and low light, explained below) is Juice Republic. I found this at Heathrow and adore the logo. A cold war-influenced star on each product that is created by a different piece of citrus, such as the lime below: