Saicho

Client: Charlie Winkworth-Smith

Category: Brand Identity, Design for Print

Saicho are award-winning tea connoisseurs on a mission to bring sparkling tea to the drinks receptions and dining tables of the world. Specialising in 24-hour cold brewed teas that are handpicked and single origin, Saicho products deliver a delicate and complex flavours which pair perfectly with food making them a delicious alcohol-free alternative to wine.

The new brand takes inspiration from the vintage tea creates used to transport loose leaf teas around the world. The wooden containers were often adorned with stencil lock-ups, decorative borders and origin language typography, providing a rich source of authentic and relevant graphic references to for us to build on.

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A key component of the brand are the decorative illustrations that were developed in collaboration with Ukrainian Illustrator Yuliya Kalinichenko. Working with the set of illustrations we added an embroidery image treatment to introduce a craft based artisan aesthetic with links to woven silk art of the Far East. Depicting the national bird of each country the illustrations are used on the neck labels and secondary packaging. 

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Our design solution for Saicho is built around a custom stencil font that was developed specifically for the project. Featuring typographic idiosyncrasies that reference tea culture the core brand establishes a luxury aesthetic while acknowledging the history behind the brand and products. Layering is a key visual characteristic of tea crates which we integrated into the final design, delivering the core brand over origin language typography and unit of volume.

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The branding system works seamlessly across multiple products and brand touchpoints including a range of 200ml bottles and gift boxes. 

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