ANTIQUES

Curio Packaging:

From Inspiration to Final Product

Designing our custom packaging for the shop, inspired by antique Venetian velvet, 18th century glass, & the faded blue of Verdure tapestries.

DESIGNING custom packaging has always been something I have wanted to develop for the shop but before this summer the timing never felt quite right. The idea of creating a whole world, an extension of Curio where every element could be visually and tangibly integrated, felt like the logical next step in a series of shop updates I had been endeavoring to make over the past year. It had always been important to me to make the moment of opening a box from Curio Shop into a special experience: one which felt personal, thoughtful, and exciting because seeing Curio’s name on the packaging meant that something magical awaited you inside.

I first started by gathering together elements that felt evergreen to Curio, things I have always felt inspired by and knew would always remain central to the curation behind the shop: antique velvet, 18th century glassware, and the faded blue of Verdure tapestries. I’ve always been drawn to antique textiles, the craftsmanship, the perfect faded colors, and the desire they elicit to touch their time-worn piles. I loved the idea of wrapping orders in a tissue inspired by antique textiles and I soon narrowed my focus in on antique velvets, particularly Venetian ones, since the designs were simple enough to be reproduced and yet deep enough so as to not feel one-dimensional.

Below are some of the many fragments of antique velvets, mostly from the 17th and 18th centuries, that I collected visual references of. Eventually, I found my favorite sample, seen at the top of the page, of a very special 17th century silk velvet fragment of florets in green on a yellow background.

Next, I wanted to establish a color palette for all the packaging that felt consistent. Naturally I turned to the wondrous colors of Verdure tapestries, all of which were made using natural dyes and have since faded over time. As part of my own textile collection, I have a 17th century fragment which I used to pull colors from and came up with a signature Verdure blue for all the Curio packaging.

The next element I wanted to visually tie into Curio’s new packaging was glassware, since it has always been central to the shop and a personal obsession of mine. Ever since I started the shop, I had always hated putting the blood red ‘Fragile’ stickers onto my boxes but understood that it added a practical level of protection for my orders as they were in transit. It seemed essential to me that I created a new ‘Fragile’ sticker that was practical but still reflected the aesthetic sensibilities of Curio. When I first began reading about antique glassware, I came across J. Sydney Lewis’ 1928 book, “Old Glass and How to Collect It.” In many ways, this book was the impetus behind my starting to collect glassware for myself as well as my starting to stock these older pieces at the shop. So, rather than use the generic wineglass typically found on ‘Fragile’ stickers, I turned to my favorite section of the book, focusing on English and French glassware from the 18th century, and selected a Baluster glass in its place.

The Final Designs

After a several long months back and forth with my wonderful and very patient graphic designer, Suze Myers, here are the final designs below of our new fragile stickers, tissue, & shipping tape. Volià!