With all the gorgeous new restaurants and well-designed food brands out there, it’s become clear that food isn’t just about how things taste anymore. Take a look at some of the country’s most visually-arresting products and spaces, and find out what makes for truly tasty design.
1 Don Papa Rum
Don Papa Rum uses stellar design to flaunt the wonders of the Philippines. Having received a handful of international accolades for both its design and quality, it almost seems as if Don Papa Rum, a premium spirit produced in Negros, is a product made along the rolling hills of France or somewhere by the Amalfi coast. When you look a bit closer, though, it becomes clear exactly where this marvellously crafted tipple is from. Found amongst the bottle’s intricate flourishes and details are beautifully-rendered images of flora and fauna unique to our country. Don Papa Rum is a product of the Philippines and it isn’t afraid to show it. Don Papa Rum’s managing director Andrew Garcia says they wanted the packaging to evoke something unique, wondrous, and specific, which translated to a look that can be described as “Pinoy baroque.”
“We wanted to be able to capture the spirit of Don Papa, the Philippines, Negros island, Sugarlandia, and elements of magic realism from an outside eye—offering a sense of discovery and adventure,” says Andrew. Together with lauded international design agency Stranger & Stranger, the team behind Don Papa Rum decided to go for a look that evoked the almost surreal nature of the Philippines and its history.
Don Papa Rum is available at Kultura, Ralph’s Wines and Spirits, and leading supermarkets.
2 12/10
At 12/10, design has, almost literally, always been a living, breathing thing. Run by twenty-somethings Gab Bustos (in the kitchen) and Thea de Rivera (in front-of-house),12/10 is a restaurant that’s all about trying out new ideas, by way of modern izakaya-style dishes. While the look of the brand quite obviously revolves around colorful images of living things and asymmetrical shapes, it was the creative freedom given to the designers at Serious Studio that gave the brand’s design a pulse.
According to Serious Studio CEO Deane Miguel and senior designer Tintin Lontoc, the brief they were presented with was considerably loose—they were practically given carte blanche to execute whatever they felt was right to capture the feel of the restaurant. This freedom, along with Serious Studio’s knack for playful contemporary design, resulted in a vibrant, intricate look filled with handcrafted details.
12/10 is at 7635 Guijo Street, San Antonio Village, Makati City.
3 Coco Dolce
In a move to go international, Coco Dolce, a beautifully crafted chocolate both produced and sourced locally in Mindanao, had to go back home. The product, made by Freefood Co., was developed as a way to prove that Philippine chocolate is a genuine, premium product. With this in mind, the folks at Freefood asked design studio Inksurge to help them find their way back to their Filipino roots in a new look for Coco Dolce’s branding.
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“The existing packaging needed to be updated since they wanted it to be sold outside of the country,” Inksurge designer Rex Advincula tells us. “There were elements from the brand’s old packaging which resembled tribal patterns and ethnic symbols, so we used them as visual cues and decided to modernize them.”
Unlike many craft chocolate bars from all over the world which feature custom hand-drawn patterns and illustrations on their boxes, Coco Dolce’s look is sleeker and bolder. The colors are warm, inviting, and striking, and the patterns, while contemporary in their look, are deeply rooted in traditional tribal Okir design.
Coco Dolce is available at ECHOstore.
Text was originally published in the March 2016 issue of Yummy magazine. Minor edits have been made by Yummy.ph editors.
