Photo: Maja Danica Pečanić / Design Bureau Izvorka Jurić
The Brachia olive oil brand from the Croatian island of Brač has launched Brachia Kids, the first Croatian olive oil for children of kindergarten and elementary school age.
“These flavours are ideal for children to love the taste of olive oil. This new product is intended for parents who understand the healing properties and the great nutrition value of olive oil and want to introduce it to the diet of their children,” said Leopold Botteri from Brachia.
The main role in popularizing the consumption of olive oil among children will is given to the special packaging, created by Izvorka Jurić and Jurica Kos from Design Bureau Izvorka Jurić.
“The packaging is designed so that the children’s product is affordable, fun to use, and educational in order to develop awareness of the importance of the regular use of olive oil. The body of the glass bottle (0.25 dcl) is partially dressed in a box that, together with the black tip of the bottle, forms a crayon, and inside the packaging actually houses six crayons. When the packaging is unravelled, a fun colouring book is revealed with illustrations of olive trees and leaves and various tasks for children. Olive oil nourishes the body, and the puzzle and colouring tasks on the packaging are food for the brain. Together they make a complete product for the healthy development of the child,” explained designer Izvorka Jurić.
Apart from premium olive oil Brachia Maslina and the latest Brachia Kids, Design Bureau Izvorka Jurić has also designed other products from Brachia product line, such as Brachia sortna ulja, ecoBrachia and Brachia & Friends.
Brachia Kids is a logical product development for Brachia brand, and along with Brachia “Maslina” it has a highly functional and striking product packaging. Let’s recall that Brachia’s olive oil brand was one of the first producers of olive oil in Croatia, which in 2005 started to use design in the development of its products, becoming a kind of design leader in its market.
It became the leader thanks to the collaboration with the designer Izvorka Jurić and now legendary Brachia Maslina packaging, which has been on the market for 13 years, during which it continually won awards for its timeless design, which is a real phenomenon because the packaging usually remains relevant for only about a year.
It has been awarded recently at the prestigious Italian Olio Officina Festival. The jury of numerous design contests and many critics of gastronomy have for years been positively assessed by the unique blend of traditional and contemporary that can be recognized in the Maslina bottle design.
“I’ve learned first hand that design enables a product to stand out and highlight its authentic quality on the market. On the premium olive oil market, there is high competition because the raw material itself is expensive, because there is not enough of it, which is why you are forced to develop added value. Without design, Brachia could never be offered on a restaurant table and compete with oils on the foreign market, regardless of the high quality of the oil. With Brachia Kids olive oil, design has a crucial role to attract, entertain the child and tell the story of olive oil that is still not used enough in Croatia, which is contradictory to its healing properties. I hope that Brachia Kids will be equally recognized, like Brachia Masline, amongst children, as well as among numerous design juries. Both products, each in its own way, are an ideal gift that combines Croatian production and design,” explained Leopold Botteri, who also owns UJE, a brand that features the finest Croatian oils and gastronomic delicacies.
Investment in the design of each product has helped the agricultural community of Brač to build its reputation, make exports and grow into a successful brand. Above that, Brachia Maslina is today sold in premium delicatessen stores in New York, London, Tokyo and other major metropolises. Olive oil for kids, Brachia Kids, is available in UJE stores in Croatia.
Design and Croatian tourist product
Design Bureau Izvorka Jurić has been working for years on creating the identity of quality Croatian products, creating brands that become some of the most important elements of Croatian tourist offer. Such products often promote Croatia and the quality of its products, much broader than you can see at first glance. A few years ago, there was a lot of buzz about the project Croatia in a Box, which was done by this team, and last year the natural cosmetics Plasinia from Lika was also a media sweetheart, combining the quality of natural Croatian products and striking design, allowing it to conquer many world markets.
“Design opens doors that can lead to wider market growth, which is particularly noticeable on this project. At the very beginning, the agricultural cooperative Brachia had the budget exclusively for packaging design, but not for marketing. We proposed a creative strategy in which the emphasis was on the design of an authentic bottle of Brachia’s premium olive oil instead of designing the equipment of a generic bottle, as is generally the case in Croatia. This is how we created the product image of Brachia, which thanks to the design quality generated great market interest for the product itself. We are currently working on as many as 3 rebranding projects for Croatian natural cosmetics, because this area is strongly developing in our country, and we have a number of quality products. We are also preparing a line of new products for the Croatian Monetary Institute, which we are particularly looking forward to,” Izvorka Jurić told us.