For this project I first started by researching the diferent artist and get as much imaginery in the theme as posible. The theme was Alice in Wonderland and the Idea was to show how this cultural icon evolved in the illustrators hands.

The second step was to get inspiration for the packeging and it's content. I first looked for examples for creative packaging in general, and after focused on packaging and craftings related to the theme. I wanted to give a sense to everything in the package, and to be everything related together.

Out of all the artists I had researched I ended up choosing: 

-John Tenniel, the original illustrator of Alice's adventures.

-David Hall, who sketched and created the storybook for the disney adaptation

And last but not least.

-Greg Hilderbrandt, recognised SciFi artist who did very realistic illlustrations of this story, playing with perspectives and points of view.

 

with this three artists we have a walk through the evolution of illustration across time, with the chance to discover the previous inspirations and influences that leaded the actual artist to his art's final result.

We have research packages, we have research the artists and now is time to research the context

So after all this preparation we start with the sketching process. First some idea's storm, write it all down, from it select the good things and work on them to make them evolve, etc. 

For being the packaging for an exibition, the ideal content would be: something to keep the mouths bussy, as it could be some food or drink; and something to keep the kids bussy, in case you have them, so the adults can chat and enjoy the paintings without having to be disturbed as much.

Liquids didn't seem a good idea, for obvious reasons, chocolates can get melted, food can go off... and then I thought, because Alice in Wonderland is mainly nonsenses, what about a drink that isn't liquid? this could be either a te bag or some instant coffee. And there is no place without kettles, so we presume in the exibition place people can just get some hot water and transform it into something drinkable.

So, we've got the drink, that will come in a tiny jag labeled "drink me"; for entrertainment, of course, it would have to be a set of cards, but to include the illustrations, make it more nonsense, and also make it more exciting for the kids, we decided to create a jigsaw puzzle sticking the printed illustrations and cutting them out.

this puzzle will need a box, so we will create one out of an empty toilet roll, transforming it into a pillow box.

And because not everyone likes coffee, we'll include a very special tea bag.

What makes this tea bag special is that is the key piece to transform, an ordinary sack that will make our packaging, into a wonderful skirt.This is because the tea bag will be atached to a cardboard label that will have alice's shape from waist to head, arms to the side so it would keep the bag from sinking once inside a glass, but holding itself to the edges of the glass.

And now heading to work, is time to transform ideas into materials, and materials into final product.

Starting with the cards.

 

For the skirt-looking sack we printed one of the illustrations and stick it to a plastic plate that would be the structure that would keep the bottom flat. And we add some silk paper to give more that impression and texture of skirt.

first we cut the plate to the right shape and then we put all the pieces together.

The sack will be created cutting a circle out of an old T-shirt (this is recycling, sweeties! saving the planet) and then sewing a rope or lace following the edge.

It gets to a point, in between all this crafting, where you have to start designing all the imaginery. Labels, boxes... and this is that moment:

It's very important for this to consider the shapes, the dimensions, the corners...

And here it is, ready to print, keeping it all with similar colors and the same 2 fonts.

 

Once printed, cutted out and sticked in place this is what we get: