Spices from India for the World : Kiraana
Kiraana is an Australian spicery run by an Indian woman who wanted to bring the flavours of her former home closer to her new one. Together with Kiraana, we crafted an identity and packaging which was distinctively Indian without resorting to tired cliches around Indian food.
Drafting Kiraana's Visual Identity
'Kiraana shops' are neighbourhood grocery stores which sell everyday essentials ranging from foodgrains, flours, spices, lentils to other knick-knacks, nuts, cosmetics, and everything in between. We wanted Kiraana's logo to pay homage to these stores, while also representing its ethos as a female-led small business.
We decided to bring the latter to the forefront of the visual identity and take the idea of the 'friendly neighbourhood auntie' as the brand ambassador of Kiraana.
Kiraana's Labels
With the early drafts, we tried to channel some of the more easily recognisable aspects of "Indian culture" into the design of the labels. But we realised that we need to go off the beaten track for Kiraana to truly stand out against a multitude of diaspora-products which use the same paisley motifs and bold typography.
Kiraana products will be sold online and through select retail outlets. We designed the packaging to stand out from an array of typical “Indian food” tropes, through minimalistic labels which channel the local flavour through a coloured “awning” as found in kiraana shops, and hand- painted gouache illustrations of the flavours. Since a large portion of the audience was to be unfamiliar with regional differences in Indian cuisine, we created a simple colour palette of subtle shades to differentiate between each regional variant.
Kiraana's Patterns
The hand-painted elements from the label also become repeat patterns that can find their way into gift-wraps, tote bags, and other spaces to bring the Kiraana brand to life.
