As much as we probably don’t want to … let’s cast our minds back to 2020. I was still working for someone else, WFH had become the norm and many businesses HAD to pivot. Let me introduce Tips & Leaves, you may remember their wonderful café in Lyndhurst (where the delicious Renoufs is now) and later on in the Museum. Ian, Kelly (and Gracie!) provided us locals with wonderful teas and coffees, but with the C word happening and an already successful loose leaf tea webstore, they knew now was the time to see what the tea leaves said…
Through the lovely Becky of Purple Dog I was introduced to Ian and Kelly who wanted to bring sustainable, ethically sourced, authentic teas to the New Forest and the UK. With their experience on cruise liners and in their own store, they were ready to bring their idea to life… but needed everything from the ground up.
With Purple Dog taking care of the website, they needed branding, which is where I came in. Through zoom meetings, questionnaires and many emails – 2020 no meetings! -Their brand The New Forest Tea Company was born, based on the rustic nature of the New Forest and bold stand out colours
We then moved onto the initial packaging designs – these cute refillable tubes – as sustainable as possible at the time.. and of course this require product photography.
A mixture of static product shots for the website as well as styled for marketing and social media. We leaned heavily into the Forest brand. And, why not?! We have so much scope to use our beautiful surroundings – plus I got to hang out with Gracie!It’s been an honour to see their business go from strength to strength, hearing about all the stockists taking on their delicious teas as well as the awards they’ve won – feels like a win for me too!
As with all fledgling businesses, innovation and changes take place. The New Forest Tea Company listens to their customers, bringing in both loose leaf and compostable pyramid bags in new sustainably packaged bags.
From concepts, to branding and product photography it’s been exciting to what and help this New Forest business grow over the past couple of years – especially in such challenging circumstances. I can’t wait to see what’s on the horizon. Keep your eyes peeled for something new for 2022!
