Chocolate with attitude

Now, if there is a brand of chocolates I would save from a fire because of the oustanding packaging, it's this.  Chocolates with attitude, the name says it all. And to top it all it's a limited edition!

The chocolates is created by Coca Luxery Chocolates, and they are to die for.  Each box contains 12 smaller boxes which represents a personality. The personality is expressed through a unique quote, a unique design and a unique type of chocolate.

Amongst other chocolate brands, this one is a fantastic  example for outstanding, rare packaging which will catch your eye immediately and make you fall in love with it! 

Easter time!

Seeing as Easter is around the corner, I would like to showcase nestle's Easter limited edition packaging from 2011.

Each chocolate egg filled metal can was illustrated by the brazilian illustrator Cako Martin and designed by FutureBrand.  It's an exciting way for sales to go up within this period, when consumers tend to buy more chocolate eggs and other easter related desserts.  The metal cans can be serious must-haves for consumers, as it add to the feeling of owning a limited edition packaging which can be used again for other purposes.

It's really eye-catching and the bright colors adds to the happy, cheerful feeling of easter time! I only wish I had one of my own...

Walker's Chocolates

The Walker's family has been creating chocolates in a very traditional way for the past 30 years.  The only problem with this was their brand which started to draw the more aging generation, their loyal customers.

So they decided to create a  new type of packaging, something to help their chocolates to stand out from the crowd and to draw attention to younger generations. The solution was a transformation from a utilitarian box to a beautiful gift box with the extended value of not having to buy additional wrapping paper when buying it as a gift!

Great thinking!

Opening up the world of packaging

Do you ever get the feeling that beautiful packaging is beyond your reach? As if your local store makes sure only the worst types of packaging reaches their shelves?  Well I sure do.. 

That is one of the next reasons I created this blog, not only to share our love for packaging, but also to see and experience it in real life.  So, here's the challenge:

Go treasure hunting in and around your town, and find at least one (per month) limited edition or rare type of packaging, buy it and load your pics onto the blog or on facebook. and by rare packaging I mean packaging that's not ordinary, and stands out from the crowd of normal, boring packaging.

Remember that March is our sweet tooth month, so any rare chocolate or ice cream packaging are especially welcome!  I already had a head start with my Honest Chocolate last week, so get going!

And here is how we will start seeing more beautiful packaging within our reach:
Pin the locations where you found or saw any limited edition or rare packaging on the Packaging treasure hunt map,

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Excited much? I am!

Let's be Honest

While I'm snacking on my limited edition Honest chocolate I told you about a few days ago, I came across the same chocolatiers with another limited edition up their sleeves!

A while ago Loom, a men's multi-brand fashion shop in Johannesburg, celebrated their 1st birthday.  They collaborated with the artisan chocolatiers,Honest Chocolate, in Cape Town to release a limited edition chocolate for this event. A competition for the design was held and attracted over 115 designers from all over the world in just 6 days! As for the flavor...it consisted of 72% cacao with hints of cayenne pepper, cinnamon and vanilla.

The winners were Studio Muti, in Cape Town, and only 365 of these slabs were released.  There are still some left for us to get our hands on! They are currently being sold in Johannesburg at Loom (Shop 22, Corner 4th Avenue & 10th Street, Parkhurst) and in Cape Town at Honest Chocolate (66 Wale Street) but you need to hurry if you'd want one!

Thirstday : Look again

And in the blink of an eye, the next Thirstday is upon us.  Today we are going to have a look not just at a limited edition beverage, but more importantly a beverage which was created not to blend in with the crowd.

It is important for packaging designers to create within the set image for a product, e.g all beer bottles should look more or less the same when it comes to shape and size, in order for the buyer to easily spot the product of their choice.  However, there is always an exception, and this is where packaging actually comes to life. 

No one can argue that they wouldn't notice an odd one out in a crowd, and this is exactly what the designers of Ampro Design did.  They created wine as corporate gifts for their international customers, but put it in milk bottles.  This is an immediate eye-catcher seeing as milk isn't a popular corporate gift in any case.  The wine now has a outstanding look about it, and won't be forgotten soon by anyone who came in contact with it. What an interesting item to add to a wine collection!

Talk about rare packaging!

Honestly proud

This past weekend, a big stroke of luck came my way.  As I was dwelling among the different designs at Design Indaba Expo in Cape Town, I stumbled upon the Honest Artisan Chocolate stall.  Overwhelmed by all the chocolate flavours and try outs on the counter, the wrapped chocolates stood beside me and practically jumped of the shelf.

As I stood there in awe and trying to decide which one to buy, the kind lady kept telling me to try out the 100% organic dark cacao chocolate.  And that was when I saw it, the limited editon wrapper around it! Only a few wrappers in the whole world, and I had one of them in my hand!

The wrapper was so popular, it was even used later on as the cover of the Design Times, a newspaper on graphic design and illustration.  I just had to buy it!  Honest Chocolate provided blank wrappers, and buyers could design and draw their own unique wrapper for the chocolate of their choice. Of course Shelf Life had to be on one of the wrappers! Along with my limited edition chocolate, I got a Design Times newspaper, and a tote bag with a awesome illustration on it. I am one proud owner. 


I've inserted images from my adventure, and also some of the unique wrappers people were busy with. Enjoy & remember to keep a look out for any limited edition or rare packaging this month in the shops, especially for something sweet!