Davies Hall brews up new look for the Rare Tea Company

Davies Hall has designed a new brand identity and packaging for the Rare Tea Company, to help it break into new markets.

The new design hits the shelves on 10 November, and is in direct response to the client wanting to get its product into Waitrose.

The original design was created in 2004 and did not involve a professional design consultancy.

Davies Hall was appointed in April, beating two other design groups, and has come up with a design that director Rob Hall refers to as ‘accessible, but retaining a modern authenticity’. The Rare Tea Company imports hand-produced teas sourced directly from Chinese growers, and Hall says that his consultancy’s design takes its inspiration from China.

He explains, ‘The typographic route is like a European colourgraphic reworking of Chinese type. It is based on the Futura typeface, which is very reminiscent of 1930s Chinese type.’

The tea has also been repackaged, replacing the original foil packages with aluminium tins.

Henrietta Lovell, managing director of the Rare Tea Company, says the redesign was aimed at breaking into specific markets.

She says, ‘Waitrose really liked our tea and our provenance, but it couldn’t work with the original packaging.’

The redesigned teas are set to go on sale in Waitrose and Selfridges.