More and more of us are buying organic products today, paying a little extra not just for what goes into them, but also – maybe more importantly – for what is left out. The Potager Soap Co. emphasizes this less-is-more approach with the packaging for its organic, handmade offerings, which avoids flashy printing and finishing techniques in favor of a simple-but-eye-catching design.
Potager – which takes its name from the popular “kitchen gardens” in which the French grow vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs – has been crafting vegan soaps free of preservatives, sulfates and other questionable ingredients since 1999, ultimately achieving organic certification in 2020. All that you’ll find in the finished products are organic oils, herbs and botanicals.
The handcrafting process also results in soap bars that truly look handmade with rippling, uneven edges that appear more like breads and pastries purchased at a village bakery than hand soaps. To emphasize this impression of freshness, Potager Soap Co. President Christine Bukruian designed simple packaging that underlines the handmade aspect yet still manages to look, and feel, sophisticated.
GSB Digital letterpress printed the company name and relevant details in Black on 80 lb. Mohawk Via Felt Flax Cover. This was then die cut and scored so as to wrap around each bar, allowing a good chunk of it to poke out from the top, showing off each soap’s intriguing colors and ingredients.
Both the softness of the paper and the deep impression left by the letterpress printing make the packaging feel as rich and intriguing as it looks. But we’re only just getting started.
To keep the soap from sliding out of the bellyband, a length of twine is tied around it vertically, its ends fastened together through the use of a wax seal on the front of the package. Not only does this feature the Potager Soap initials impressed in wax, but the wax itself varies in color depending on the type of soap. The Lemongrass Calendula, for example, fittingly boasts a Gold wax seal.
The packaging as a whole is inspired by the age-old tradition of tying and sealing precious items inside parchment, which here further underscores the handmade nature of the product inside. (And if it keeps you from eating the delicious-looking soap inside…well that can only be a good thing, too!)
