Food branding and packaging, a design speciality in Valencia

The design world and gastronomy have walked hand in hand in Valencia for many years. A large number of projects use specialised designers to create their own identity as a way to stand out, to compete with other products on the shelves or to express the hidden details of their production. Many of the best known studios dedicated to packaging and branding are based in the Valencian Community, generating an entire brand universe which leads us not only to consume well designed products within the region, but to export them around the world with the seal of quality of Valencian creativity. Here are some examples.

Extrem Puro Extremadura, an Iberian acorn fed ham with an haute couture skin designed by Gallen&Ibáñez

At Extrem Puro Extremadura they prepare Ibérico acorn-fed ham by giving the utmost care to the whole process, from the selection of sows for reproduction, through breeding and grazing on their own pasturelands in Extremadura up to the curing and drying. A commitment to the sustainability of this land that has led them to limit the production of Iberian ham to the number of pigs that can be fed with the acorns and pastures of their lands while being visually controlled. A quality and an environmental commitment that need to be transferred even to the packaging. And this is where the work of the Gallén+Ibañez studio comes in, to project the exclusivity of the product in a competitive sector with brands that are very well established among consumers.
The Gallén+Ibáñez studio understood that this ham was the jewel in the company’s crown and that they must treat it as such. Therefore, they adopted the visual language of luxury jewellery and haute couture houses. The wanted the consumer to experience a feeling similar to that felt when receiving a luxury item. A luxury that is not ostentations or overextravagant, but a simple and elegant luxury. To this end they used certified papers and water-based inks and eliminated non-ecological techniques. The result is a generic packaging which is customised for each product using labels. In this way, they comply with the Iberian ham regulations and avoid overproduction of packaging.
Today, the brand benefits from an image and position that set it apart from its competitors. They have made their way within the Iberian ham sector by backing modernisation, simplicity and sustainability, even in the paper and card of the packaging.

A wine to celebrate both its design and its peculiar production by Estudio PG

For Valencians, “fer comboi” is to prepare a torrà (barbecue) or a paella and take the opportunity to celebrate something among friends. That celebration is what the design and naming of this white and rosé wine by Bodegas Creatias Familia y Viñedos set out to express. Those responsible were EstudioPG, one of the design studios of the Valencian Community most specialised in drink branding. The naming arises from the need to pair the peculiarity of this wine and its ability to be consumed on a wide range of occasions with the typically Valencian celebration of “fer comboi”.
Comboi is a wine made from tardana grapes, a local variety in danger of disappearing. From their wineries, these producers protect this variety, which is an autochthonous and very distinctive Valencian product. With this grape, they develop different products and they do so differently, producing the wine using ancestral methods that bear no relationship with cava production. This procedure entails bottling the wine when partially fermented and allowing fermentation to be completed in the bottle. In this way, the gas generated as the end product of fermentation becomes bubbles in the wine. And it has qualities that few wines possess: drunk chilled, it can be enjoyed before, during or after meals.
It is a wine for celebration, enjoyment, daily happiness. Its special preparation brings many particular characteristics to its tasting, such as different hints of flavour on the nose and palate and small bubbles. Therefore, its name refers to making comboi, enjoying time spent with our loved ones and, at the same time, it appeals to the Valencian roots of a grape that is only cultivated in our lands, in Casas Ibañez in the Manchuela region of Valencia.

The Valencian Clóchina now has a way to set itself apart thanks to the branding by Modesto Granados

The brand identity of the Valencian clóchina (mussel) arose from the need of the Association of Clochineros of the Port of Valencia to identify their product, which is highly valued and sought after for its quality and flavour, from other products that are neither autochthonous nor authentically Valencian.
To differentiate their product, prior to the branding, they applied a label or sticker with the Valencian flag, seeking that autochthonous differentiation, and the words “clóchina de València”. They soon realised that many other producers were copying this initiative and marking their products with the same technique, without really being Valencian clóchina.
The brand was born from this need to identify the product. The brand identity, designed by Modesto Granados, identifies and designates the original product, cultivated by marine farmers on some twenty fixed rafts which are the only ones that produce this delicacy, superior in flavour and organoleptic qualities to its Galician and Catalonian cousins.

The modernisation of a premium chocolate to reach every market without losing its essence, by Lavernia&Cienfuegos

Pancracio is a Valencian chocolate brand that began as a small company with presence in very exclusive shops. In this new stage, the company sought to grow and to reach wider markets without renouncing its premium positioning and its prestige.
With the help of the design studio Lavernia&Cienfuegos, specialised in packaging and branding, they introduced a new strategy based on the analysis of the sector and a radical change of image. They moved from vintage aesthetics to product photography while maintaining the brand to reinforce its strength, personality and reputation. The predominance of white, an impeccable photograph and typographic composition, combining Garamond and Neutra Text, provided elegance and set it apart from the competition. Its market consolidation has increased considerably, achieving the aims given in the briefing, thanks to design.

The ideal Valencian canvas for the great chefs by Ximo Roca

The collaboration of Ximo Roca with the porcelain tableware company Porvasal reaches back over 20 years. The industrial designer has delved deeply into design applied to gastronomy with the creation of a wide range of tableware and serving pieces that can be found in many restaurants. Cooking, haute cuisine, is not just about flavour and aromas, appearance also plays a fundamental role and Ximo Roca has applied his design expertise to the creation of pieces with surfaces, heights and cavities that serve as a canvas, and act as a pedestal, to show off the chef’s presentation. Aesthetics are accompanied by functionality: dishes that are adapted to the frenetic rhythm of the kitchen, to being carried through the dining room and served at the table, the bar or in cocktail party format.
Curved lines and the sculptural nature of their elevations are the characteristics of the Orbe Aro collection designed by Ximo Roca Diseño. Plates created for Porvasal with the aim of becoming the ideal canvas for the colours and flavours of the most exclusive haute cuisine. Their different heights, rims and bowls respond to the research by Ximo Roca Diseño into plating trends to offer pieces that make it possible to improve presentation and lift the dining experience.

Traditionally produced, ecological gin with acidic notes, by Meteorito

Fernández-Pons is a family project initiated by Diego Fernández-Pons, a renowned Valencian oenologist with more than 20 years’ experience in the world of growing, making and selling wines. Their products are all traditionally prepared and ecological, which leads them to produce quality products, respectful of the environment and the health of their consumers.
One of their latest products, which has just landed on the market, is the premium Clemen Gin, a new proposal that joins their famous Vermouth. For its labelling, they benefitted from the collaboration of the design studio Meteorito, which took care of the name and the design. The aim was to represent its subtlety, the craftsmanship of its production and the smooth acidic notes of Valencian clementine on the nose and palate. Its fresh design is focused on a feminine public and transmits its fresh and ecological character as well as that citric spark that makes it so special.

An ecological horchata that set out to break all the established canons

From the birth of the Terra i Xufa brand it was clear to its proprietor, Enric Navarro, that he needed to create a brand with the help of a designer. Therefore, he began working with Dídac Ballester on the brand universe and its positioning as an ecological Horxata.
Many projects and products have arisen from this relationship, including that of the concentrated horchata. The perception of this horchata was that it looked like an artificial and industrial product, far from what it was in reality: a natural and light product. This was how the idea arose to break the established rules, the usual canons for labelling products of this type and to play with a new and differentiated aesthetic.
The designer opted for a design that, from the contemporary perspective, enhanced the horchata as a natural and traditional product. The illustrator Paula Bonet was responsible for drawing the new aesthetic, far removed from that perception of an artificial and industrial product and, together with a change of paper, they achieved a warmer tone and the production of much more highly-polished labels.