I've had the pleasure of becoming a pasta expert over the past year as PKG worked with American Italian Pasta Company on the refresh of their regional pasta brands. The Mueller's brand has over 145 years of history with consumers in the Northeast United States. AIPC came to PKG to bring the brand along with modern audiences while retaining it's classic American heritage. We developed many concepts to see how far consumers would let us take this brand, and in the end we found a way to modernize while maintaining it's classic equity.

The pasta aisle is historically a visually chaotic space within the grocery store, with national brands, regional brands and store brands all competing for consumer eyes. Understanding that consumer's shop their trusted brands by looking for specific cuts, we set out to create a new system to aid shopability.

With "short cuts" like elbows and penne, we heard frequently from consumers that they want a large window to identify the pasta shapes. This provided an added challenge for "long cuts" like spaghetti and angel hair. How can you develop a quick visual cue to tell them apart when it's not readily apparent in the window? Photography of course!

We heard through qualitative and quantitative testing that consumers were drawn to the new aspirational ingredient images as a way to tell apart their favorite cuts of pasta AND suggest a usage. Keep an eye out on grocery store shelves from Michigan to Florida as new packaging for Mueller's begins to rollout.

Originally published at http://pkgbranding.com/breathing-new-life-into-a-class-brand-muellers-pasta/

It was the spring of 2001. The past year had been motivating, full of new adventures, new experiences. I was a young packaging designer working a job where I was learning something new every day and loving every new opportunity.

When I discovered that Eva Ziesel would be doing a small US tour to support her new Nambe product launch my heart skipped a beat. I have no idea how a legend like her ends up signing autographs in a suburban Chicago Marshall Field's but I wanted to be there to show my respect. My roommate, also an artist and web designer, joined me in the trek to the suburbs.

I should back up and explain how I came to love the work of one of the lesser known mid-century design legends. My parents come from the land of Red Wing Pottery. The small Minnesota-based family business made everything from craft pottery to servingware and stoneware crocks. I don't think many people outside of Minnesota and Wisconsin know this small pottery company, but in my memories they were always cherished possessions by both sides of my family tree. My maternal grandmother had several pieces of Red Wing in her cabinet, my paternal grandmother used Red Wing crocks in her farm's kitchen to make the pickles I would love to eat. This tradition of collecting Red Wing was passed down to my mother and her siblings. Nothing in my mother's pottery collection intrigued me more than Schmoo, a pair of salt and pepper shakers that were unlike anything I had ever seen before. They felt organic, smooth, comfortable even in my hands as a small child. The salt shaker wrapped around the smaller pepper with a soft elegance that as a child seemed so foreign to me. These were not simple salt and pepper shakers, they were art. They were special, hand-crafted and spoke to me.

I didn't know that they spoke to other people too, not until I was in my teens and learned more about art and design. I knew nothing about the the challenges and life threatening experiences she'd overcome to even get to America and design for this small Minnesota company. I just knew that she approached every plate, cup and form differently from the 90-degree, angular 80's world I grew up in. The softness, the curves, the beauty in simplicity has always informed the work that I've done and the art that I've been drawn to.

Back to 2001, my roommate and I arrived at the store towards the end of the event. We waited patiently for the suburban women–who seemed to just happen into the department store that Saturday afternoon–make pleasantries with the woman they didn't fully comprehend. Eva spoke gracefully and slowly with a tinge of her eastern European accent noticeable in her words. She was a gracious host, but clearly tired by the attention and travel. Keep in mind at this point Eva was already 94 years old! She and her daughter Jean were preparing to pack up their things when she noticed us—two twenty-something girls who were just as out of place in this upscale department store as they were. When her eyes caught mine, I like to think she recognized a kindred soul. They motioned us over and invited us to sit, talk and have a cup of tea.

Eva was so curious about us! Who were we? How did we know who she was? What did we do? What did we love about life? Were we from Chicago? Did we love this city? Her specific words are now mostly a blur to me, but her liveliness, her positivity and her charm remain deeply embedded. She spoke with her hands, motioning those same soft curves as she explained the history of Schmoo. The salt shaker, she said, was her—the pepper, her baby daughter Jean. When she was working on the Town & Country product line for Red Wing, Jean was just a small child (as she spoke she squeezed Jean’s arm). She wanted to capture the protective feeling of being a mother—how you want to shelter your child from any harm. Her hands cupped each other and pulled apart to create the now classic form within mid-air.

She was captivating. I remember fondly comparing the soft grasp of her hands as we parted to my recently departed great-grandmother. Eva’s eyes still had so much life and energy, despite being trapped in an aging body. Her vigor made me think that she might live forever...

Eva passed away yesterday, at 105, designing still in her final years. I could tell you what I know of her life from books and our conversation but others will do that much better than I will. What I hope I can impart is a small sense of how meeting such a kind and wonderful soul made me feel. Her work and her spirit will always make me strive to create beauty in everyday objects.

Learn more about Eva Zeisel:

The New York Times Obituary | Museum of Modern Art Collection | TED Talk on the Playful Search for Beauty

Eva Zeisel On Design |Throwing Curves: Eva Zeisel Documentary | Eva Zeisel Originals

Eva's Home Tour on NYSD | Eva in New York Magazine

Photo Credits: Eva Zeisel by Okamoto Hisashi from Faces of New York, 1999-2002 | Town and Country (Schmoo) from MOMA Permanent Collection

Dear Jean, if you should ever read this I need to thank you again. Your were so generous to invite two young designers to join you and your mother for tea. I am so sorry for your loss, your mother was such a wonderful and special woman. Her memory will always live on.

How do you breathe new life into a classic brand?

PKG

Tea with Eva