Scandinavian Designers win iF Packaging Award 2007

Tea-bag packaging, graphic design and branding for Lao Tsu Say Corporation, Taiwan

In 2006 the Taiwanese tea-drink exporter Lao Tsu Say asked us to open up a new market for high quality, whole-leaf green tea in France and England for them. To do this we developed a brand identity, a unique packaging concept and distinctive graphic design based on modern Taiwanese flower painting to match.

 
Our idea was that the Lao Tsu Say teabag should deliver an experience equal in quality to the well-served cappuccino which is so à la mode nowadays. The teabag as we have known it hitherto it is messy, ugly and an absolutely anti-aesthetic experience. The Lao Tsu Say experience includes an attractive, Chinese-style presentation platter which can be carried to the table from which to choose the preferred type of tea; easy, intuitive and elegant access to the bag and reuse of the individually sealed packaging to dispose of the bag after use; a beautiful, contemporary interpretation of traditional Chinese flower-painting as the graphic motif to characterise each type of tea; a quotation from Lao Tsu Say to enrich the sensibility of the experience printed on the tear-off tab of each package.

The concept is based on the new tetrahedral teabag now common in Taiwan and Japan, but not yet introduced in Europe. After a lot of research we chose a tetrahedral packing principle to give an outward expression of the new technology. Though Tetrapak patented the tetrahedral package in the 1950's our design is a characteristic by being exceptionally small and having a long, tear-off tab which we utilised as a brand-image carrier as it is the part of the package that stays with the tea-bag when the tea is served.

 
To complete the concept we developed a new logo for Lao Tsu Say to appear on the tab and the sub-brand name "Blushing Blossom" to express a tender, but sensual, feminine Chinese image of green tea. The concept was further developed for a complete range of tea products including loose tea for which we developed a new, patented TetraPak variant, green-tea powder and pastilles and a Taiwanese cold-tea sachet.

The final total-user experience is a unique upgrade of the tea-bag concept which was recognised by the selection of jury of Lao Tsu Say "Blushing Blossom" for the 2007 iF Global packing Award, Hanover, Germany.