Akupa Tea
A boutique tea brand and its packaging cut by hand, with one spray can, one knife, and no second attempt.
Summary
Overview
Akupa Tea was a college assignment. Invent a boutique tea company, then build its packaging by hand. It had to look manufactured, from a shiny box, a can of matte black, and a sheet of film. There was no second can.
Challenge
Make packaging read as manufactured with a spray can, a knife, and one attempt at every cut.
Process
A name, a mark, and a decision to use one color.
The template inverted, traced onto film, and carved by hand.
Two coats of matte black over a gloss box.
Measured twice, for a fit that holds and still slides.
The Case, Stenciled by Hand
I printed an inverted template and traced it onto translucent film. Every area to be painted was carved out by hand, before the box took its double coat.
There was no second sheet of film and no second box. Each cut was the only one. The edges carry the hand that made them. It is the honest record of a one-shot process.
The Flavor Boxes
The flavor boxes were measured twice, for a fit snug enough to hold and loose enough to slide out. Each takes a color band and the same four-line panel. Have fun, drink this, live simple, enjoy tea. A shelf of them reads as a set before any one reads as a flavor.
A pull tab at the top opening and a deeper lip on the sides are what a second run would add. The first run already settled the harder question, which is whether the thing would read as manufactured at all.
Tools
- Illustrator, opens in a new tab
- Photoshop, opens in a new tab
- InDesign, opens in a new tab
- X-Acto knife
- Spray paint
- Tacky film