A Glorious Sunny Day Under the Shade of a Tree...

…Though not overly relaxing, as I was crouched behind my camera taking these tasty food shots for client Olive Branch's new recipe booklet. Still, not a bad way to make a living, AND I got to eat the subject matter!

Each of the recipes feature one or more of their amazing products, most of which made by small farmers and local cooperatives around Greece, then shipped (overground) to us lucky people in the UK.

(click to enlarge)

Duke of Delhi in the final of Virgin Start-up Foodpreneur 2014, judged by Sir Richard himself!

Well what an exciting day! Our client Duke of Delhi made it to the final two in the category 'Most Exciting New Brand'. We were up against another great new product, 'Proper' Baked Beans. Both had passion, enthusiasm, a unique product, and elephants in the logos!

The stand got so busy I had to turn Duke of Delhi and go behind the counter to help elaborate on the Duke of Delhi story and brand, and encourage people to try the product - Indian spiced chocolate with a crunch of Bombay Mix inside. The branding AND the product went down extremely well, great to hear so many compliments from so many passionate food loving people.

The judging began, presented by Michela Chiappa, and judged by Melissa and Jasmine Hemsley, Mina Holland (editor of Guardian Cook), Paul Lindley of Ella's Kitchen, and of course the one and only Sir Richard Branson - who was the judge in our category!

Unfortunately Mr Branson chose the more healthy, beany option over Duke of Delhi's Anglo-Indian chocolate fusion. But second place is definitely still to be celebrated, and many new contacts (and I think a few new customers) were made...

I think the other runners-up deserve a special mention for all their effort and positivity! Especially Katie & Jane from NotDogs, who were grinning til the end!
@notdogsUK @bkd_london @ZingologyUK @dukeofdelhi

Two tasty new Olive Branch ranges now launched! Greek Olives & Chunky Tapenades...

The lovely new jars from Olive Branch have just arrived, been photographed, and some are now less than half full! (couldn't resist).
Firstly, a range of the finest Greek olives: Greek Olive Mix, Sundried Tomato Garlic & Rosemary; Fiery Red Chilli and Herbs Chilli & Garlic.
Second is a range of coarsely cut 'chunky' tapenades: Sundried Tomato Feta & Greek Basil; Goats Cheese Rosemary & Chilli, Florina Peppers & Chilli and the slightly sweeter Fig & Mint.
All are delicious straight from the jar, but I've also tried adding them to salads, pasta, polenta and just with a decent tortilla chip!

Olive Branch source all the ingredients from local community cooperatives in Crete, the home country of founder Maria. They are then shipped overground to the UK, delivering an absolutely amazing hit of Mediterranean sun-ripened splendidness.

All are beautifully illustrated by the very talented Ohn Mar Win - and I'm not just saying that because we happen to be married! Simple illustrations of the ingredients were created using texture to add taste and a natural artisan feel.
(click images to enlarge)

LATEST NEWS: Duke of Delhi Chocolate Bar Range Launched...

OK, so Duke of Delhi had already created a Bombay mix with chocolate chunks, an Indian snack with an eccentric British twist, which has become very popular, and now sold at Fortnum & Mason.
However, not happy to leave it there, they had a thought - what if we add more chocolate? a LOT more! So they turned it on it's head and came up with the Duke of Delhi Chocolate bar, with Bombay mix inside, a kind of Anglo-Indian Willy Wonka Bar!
There are five amazing flavoured chocolate varieties: Cardamom & Vanilla, Toasted Coconut, Lime, Orange and Cinnamon,  plus a plain version. Some are dark, some are milk, ALL are very different and a tad addictive!
They were launched this weekend at the BBC Good Food Show, Olympia.

Here's the packs we designed for them... (click to enlarge)

(Look out for the new website also launching any time now)

Stamping my Hart with a Squash!

When invited to help with my local Transition Town steering group, the first thing I couldn't help but do was redesign the identity.

The Transition movement is a network of worldwide local organisations trying to make their local area less dependent on oil and fossil fuels, more self sufficient, and try to tackle the problem of climate change, all from a local standpoint, the idea being that if every City, Town, Village and community did this then the collective effect worldwide would be huge.

Hertford originally got it's name for being the 'ford' where 'Harts' (stags) came to cross the water, and the 'Hart' has become a symbol of the town.

The idea for the identity was to visually suggest different people and local communities coming together to move the town forward, combining into the head of the (forward moving) stag. I also wanted to symbolise the local countryside surrounding the town.

Although there are no restrictions or guidelines as to how each Transition group identity should look, I wanted to give it a hand crafted feel, so I decided to cut out all the individual elements from of a butternut squash, then hand print them. I then scanned them in and pieced it back together in illustrator.

...the rest of said squash of course was not wasted, and went to very good (and pretty tasty) use!

(click images to enlarge)

Next challenge - redesign the website.

http://www.transitionhertford.org.uk

Having Problems with Gas?!!

We ship most of our (fossil) gas into the UK on huge container ships from Qatar...
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/newsdesk/energy/data/where-do-we-get-our-gas
...which isn't cheap, OR particularly eco-friendly.

OK, so we don't want huge gas price rises, and we don't really want to Frack the very ground we walk on (and poison the very water we rely on). So, apart from using much less, what's the alternative?
It could be renewable Biomethane. Ecotricity and even the National Grid agree:
http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/our-green-energy/our-green-gas/why-green-gas
http://www.nationalgrid.com/corporate/About+Us/climate/press/020209.htm

...let's just hope our frack-friendly Government see the benefits too.

LATEST NEWS: Bee Mercy Raw Honey Rebrand...

Just shot the newly rebranded range of Bee Mercy Raw Honey, as natural a honey as you can get without raiding a wild beehive (which I do not advise).

They came to us with a generic label across all their amazingly different tasting honeys, which really didn't do enough to communicate the care, passion and love they have for the product or the naturalness, benefits and personality of the brand.

(click to enlarge)

The identity Bright Green Brands created is pretty self explanatory - a beehive in the shape of a heart, showing the love we have for the bees, and the love (I like to think) the bees show by sharing their lovely food with us!

For the labels we illustrated the different plants the bees visited for each variety, from ground-growing meadow flowers like Heather, Thyme and Lavender, to the much taller Citrus groves, Eucalyptus, Oak and Chestnut trees, plus the less specific Forest and Mountain honeys.

As luck would have it I had just started a beekeeping course before the project came along, which was the best research I could possibly have imagined! Photos from that course to follow soon...