Shanghai-based graphic design studio Lin Shaobin has created packaging for tea that uses burnt paper to emulate traditional Chinese ink paintings of misty mountains.
The Mountain Tea Song packaging project was commissioned by Guangzhou Zifang enterprise for a restaurant in the Chinese city of Guangzhou called Song's Chinese Cuisine.
Lin Shaobin took design cues from the Song dynasty ? an era that begun with Emperor Taizu of Songa and saw a period of wide artistic development in China that lasted from around 960-1279 AD.
The tea packaging takes cues from art produced during the Song dynasty
As tea is the most popular beverage of choice in Song's Chinese Cuisine, Lin Shaobin were tasked with designing a unique packaging that reflected both the creative inspiration of the restaurant as well as the location from which the drink is sourced. The Mountain Tea Song tea leaves are grown high up in the mountains at elevations of up to 1000 meters before being charcoal roasted in three different concentrations from light to strong according to different baking times.
Lin Shaobin wanted this process to be represented in the tea's casing for the consumer to see, and therefore chose to use the effect of burning the edges of paper.
Lin Shaobin used burnt paper to emulate mountainous landscapes
The studio burnt three different colours of paper ? camel, grey and beige, which are used to distinguish the different strengths of tea ? before scanning the results onto a computer and printing the...