Incontro
A packaging that becomes a tasting set — one joint, three objects, one sensory language
00
challenge
Cascina Bonfiglio — a Sicilian artisan jam producer — wanted to move their top-level products beyond the breakfast table into a new cultural scenario: gourmet tasting. The brief called for a packaging, a tasting tool and a display stand — all in wood, all coherent. The deeper question: how do you transform a container into an experience?
solution
A wooden system built around a single structural and aesthetic principle: the dovetail joint. Closed, the packaging is a clean parallelepiped framing the jars through circular apertures. Dismantled, it becomes a complete aperitivo tasting set — usable seated or standing — with integrated spoon holders, cocktail glass housing and tactile textured surfaces. The display stand follows the same modular logic. One joint system. Three objects. One sensory language.
Incontro demonstrated how a single material principle can generate formal and experiential coherence across packaging, product and retail display simultaneously. The "second life" packaging concept — where the container becomes the tasting experience — proposes a transferable model for premium consumer product strategy: reducing material waste while dramatically increasing perceived value and user engagement.
The dovetail joint elevated from technical solution to formal language — present in packaging, tool, corner and logo. Male-female joint logic generates all connections across the system. Packaging modularity follows multiples of three — mirroring the three jars it contains. Four texture typologies were explored — spiky, dotted, concave, wavy — to extend the tasting experience into the tactile dimension. Future development envisioned: texture families matched to jam flavour profiles, creating a direct sensory correlation between taste and touch.
Steamed beechwood selected for tactile quality, workability and food safety. Walnut multilayer for structural depth and chromatic richness. Chromatic contrast between light and dark wood essences becomes the visual signature — extended to the logo through pyrography on wood, coherent with Cascina Bonfiglio's artisan identity.
01
Field Research
Going where tasting actually happens
On-site research across multiple aperitivo contexts — bars, gourmet events, standing tastings — to observe how people interact with food, objects and each other during informal tasting moments. Key insight: jam has an unexplored aperitivo scenario — paired with cheese, used in cocktails — where packaging becomes part of the ritual itself.
02
Sensory Design
Tactile textures
Four texture typologies explored to extend the tasting experience into the tactile dimension. The dotted texture selected and applied to the packaging surface following a precise grid, inspired by Cascina Bonfiglio's graphic identity. The concept direction that emerged: disassemble the pack, compose the set!
03
Material Research
Beechwood meets walnut
Research on non-toxic woods and finishing techniques. Two essences selected for their contrasting properties — tactile quality and chromatic depth — with chromatic contrast between light and dark becoming the visual signature of the entire system.
04
Technical Development
The dovetail joint as a system
The joint elevated from structural mechanism to formal and communicative language — present across packaging, tool, stand and logo. Every connection in the system uses the same logic: male-female, precise, immediate. Packaging modularity follows multiples of three, mirroring the three jars it contains.
year
2019
Client
Academic project - Cascina Bonfiglio, Sicily
see also
