May 31, 2023 - The prize from one of the most prestigious competitions in design and advertising, the British D&AD, is in the hands of the Croatian design Studio Tumpic/Prenc. These creatives won the Wood Pencil in the Packaging design category for the design of the olive oil bottle "Istriana" for their client E Pluribus Unum.

As Poslovni writes, D&AD, short for Design and Art Direction, is a British organisation founded in 1962 to promote excellence in design and advertising. Every year it raises the bar of quality in this industry, and it does so with the annual competition, i.e., the D&AD Pencils awards, which are known for the most outstanding creative achievement in the profession.

At this year's edition of this iconic competition, over 300 members of the jury, all leaders of the creative sector chose the winners from as many as 12,243 submitted works from 77 countries around the world, and the Croatian design Studio Tumpic/Prenc is the only representative from Croatia, as well as the region. The Wood Pencil Award declares the "Istriana" project one of the best works of the year in its category, and as such, it becomes an example of creative excellence for future generations who will look to D&AD for their inspiration.

The design of these creatives, which has earned its place among the best of the best, emphasises the connection with the past. Namely, Istrian olive oil was mentioned as a synonym of quality as early as the time of the Roman Empire, but with its disintegration, Istria no longer enjoyed the reputation it had in the Roman period. However, due to its natural prerequisites for the creation of superior olive oil, in the 90s, it gradually regained its status as one of the world's best regions for olive growing.

It could be said that finding fragments of forgotten knowledge gives life to modern olive growing. The bottle also shows the reconstruction of various fragments of the amphora reassembled into a meaningful whole. In addition, once placed in the box, the bottle represents the heart of a specific shape of a Roman amphora from the Istrian area, where olive oil was stored and transported. Also, the orange tone of the terracotta, specially mixed for use on the packaging, contains a percentage of actual Istrian soil.

Upon realising this project, the Studio collaborated with the Italian companies Wine & Industrial Packaging and Tipografia Crivellari 1918. The creative minds behind this winning idea were awarded as part of the D&AD Festival that took place at the end of last week in London, and on this occasion, they declare:

"D&AD is one of the most respected festivals in the industry, so to be recognised next to the big brands present at it, such as Nike, KFC, Mars, Calvin Klein, Google, Burger King, NFL and other Wood Pencil winners, it is certainly a great honour, all the more so because it is a product whose role from the beginning was to promote Istria, i.e. Croatia, with its design and name. This is another way to achieve his goal", concluded the Croatian design Studio Tumpic/Prenc.

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