The subtle and tactile Espelma packaging design is lit
Wordmarks Can Add Value
Give it another week and we'll start to see "the perfect gift for mum this Christmas" lists starting to appear. Espelma, a candle company design by Commission Studio, is one of those gifts.
Espelma Candles is a natural wax candle with scents such as Fig Tree and Summer Garden. What's Summer Garden? A mixture of garden herbs, jasmine, lavender and rosemary. Espelma was inspired by the owner's childhood. Spending long summers at their grandmother's house near Barcelona, reading under the fig tree and playing hide and go seek around the garden.
The candles are presented in a mouth-blown Murano glass. In this case, the packaging wasn't just an elegant way to present the candle, it also needed to be functional for transporting glass. The way the box opens, and its linen-like embossed texture, represents a story-book. Another possible link to the owner's childhood. That's not the only tactile experience on this box. Glossy silicon shapes that emulate the key scent playfully spill over the packaging. Inside these shapes is one line of text, a scent descriptor. Could this single line represent a candlewick?
Espelma in Catalan means candle or melted wax. The Espelma mark was custom-drawn, and they included a subtle burning flame at the centre of the uppercase E making it into an ownable mark that adds to the story. Clients often have reservations when they're pitched a wordmark instead of a traditional logo. In the client's eyes, logos hold more value. Logos take time to craft, develop and explore, whereas wordmarks are seen as the quick solution. Espelma shows how much time, effort and value can be added to a wordmark.
Other great examples of a wordmark?
Akitu Wine is a vineyard in Central Otago, New Zealand. An area that is known for extreme alpine landscapes and Pinot Noir. Akitu in the Maori language means the apex, summit or highest point. The Akitu wordmark design by Inhouse is a typographic expression of extreme alpine rocky mountains and sloping vineyard terrain. So powerful, it's the only element on the bottle, in black and white at the base of the bottle like a mountain range rising from the earth.
