Monty & Sons
New Zealand’s best little pasta company that gives a fork!
Monty’s & Sons is all about nourishing people and the planet through New Zealand grown, award winning durum wheat pasta. Durum wheat is an ancient grain that creates the world’s finest pasta. Monty’s & Sons get their durum wheat from a collective of local Wairarapa farmers with strong regenerative practices. They craft their pasta the old school way, bronze extruded, slow air dried to lock in the nutrients. When you combine this with locally grown ingredients the result is exceptional pasta that nourishes while offering full traceability from paddock to plate.
We’ve created a casual and creative script style logo that feels fun while capturing the organic and natural look of handwriting. This makes the logo feel artisan, crafted and caring of both people and planet. The variations in stroke thickness and decorative elements like swashes add an elegant, everyday premium feel as well as an artisan touch. The logo reflects the family owned brand and a wholesome wellbeing feel.
The packaging design isn’t just about standing out on shelf, it’s about inviting customers to join in celebrating the joy and appreciation of simple pleasures of eating great pasta. We created a series of illustrations that shows food and joy and humour coming together. For each pasta shape we have illustrated the specific pasta shape interacting cleverly with character. We have a male character bouncing on a pasta pogo stick, balancing a tray of wine referencing the brands ethos of spending quality time with friends and family sharing good wine and food. Short Rigatoni is a round, barrel shape and shows a character running on the pasta barrel cleverly balancing a plate of pasta and napkin. Trumpets feature a character playing a trumpet since this is natural visual link. We added music notes to reinforce he’s playing music. Radiatori features a character paddling a pasta canoe, with simple wavy lines suggesting water. The illustrations immediately makes you smile and expresses the fun nature of the brand.
These illustrations sit proudly at the top of the packaging above the logo in the natural, cream section. Under this we have a wavy lined colour block that runs right around the packaging. The strong wavy shape reflects generic pasta edges while feeling softer and caring as well as creating a strong brand identifier. Each pasta type features a different colour to ensure ease of identifying the different types as well as creating a colourful range of products. The packaging features a plastic free clear paper window to ensure Monty’s & Sons has sustainable harvested, biodegradable packing that does zero harm to the planet.
The colour palette is inspired by nature with colours that are earthy and wholesome. The colours feel natural while adding warmth to the brand. We created a large range of colours for product differentiation, selecting colours that work harmoniously together while allowing more colours for new future products.
We created a series of packaging icons to quickly communicate key messages to customers like, New Zealand Grown & Made, Nourishing People & Planet, Sustainable Farming Practices, 100% Recycled packaging, High in Protein & Fibre and Made to Hold Sauce.
When Monty and Jess first approached us they wanted a brand that embraced the cultural philosophy of the Italian way of life, which celebrates the joy and appreciation of simple pleasures. About spending quality time with friends and loved ones, sharing experiences, enjoying delicious food and drink while having fun. The brand and packaging successfully captured this feeling and expressesing fun, artisan and everyday premium feel.
We developed branding design, illustration, packaging, signage, social media and website design.