Work
Newest first
Bolo
A cake box for every flavour, each a block of colour with the name big enough to read from the shop door.
Client
Bolo bakery, Porto
Year
2025
Work
Packaging and identity
Role
Identity, packaging, illustration
Bolo is a small bakery in Porto with a short menu: lemon drizzle, carrot, chocolate with raspberry and a birthday sprinkle cake, plus cupcakes from the same batters at the weekend. With four cakes to sell, the boxes could do the selling, so that is where the budget went.
A colour for each cake
Each cake got its own colour: yellow for lemon, orange for carrot, brown for chocolate and pink for birthday. The name runs across the lid in letters 6 cm tall, big enough to read from the shop door.
Stacked behind the counter, the boxes became the menu. The chalkboard came down in the first week, and nobody has asked for it back.
I chose the colours in pairs rather than one at a time, because the boxes are almost never seen alone. Each one had to hold its own beside the other three on a crowded shelf, and on a café table in full sun.
Three sizes, one sheet
Every box folds from the same dieline, drawn in three sizes that sit together on one press sheet. A single cutting form cuts them all, which is most of the saving on a small run, and the staff only have to learn one fold.
The cake box, for a whole cake, in that cake’s colour.
The cupcake box, which holds four from the weekend batch.
The candle box, slim and pink, sold at the till beside the birthday cake.
The paper bag, plain white, for slices to take away.
Seals instead of sticky tape
Orders used to leave with a handwritten note taped to the lid. Now each one is closed with a red seal from a printed sheet, with a line for the name and one for the pick-up time. The same seal closes the paper bags and holds the ribbon on gift orders.
The bakery’s owner noticed the difference at the counter before I did:
People used to point at the cakes. Now they point at the boxes and say the colour.
Reorders without me
The boxes print at a printer two streets from the bakery, in runs of 500 per colour. A one-page guide lists the four colour references, the board and the cutting form number, so the bakery can reorder without asking me first.
Bolo was shortlisted at the European Design Awards in 2025. The bakery mentions it far less often than the carrot cake.
Bolo
A cake box for every flavour, each a block of colour with the name big enough to read from the shop door.
Client
Bolo bakery, Porto
Year
2025
Work
Packaging and identity
Role
Identity, packaging, illustration
Bolo is a small bakery in Porto with a short menu: lemon drizzle, carrot, chocolate with raspberry and a birthday sprinkle cake, plus cupcakes from the same batters at the weekend. With four cakes to sell, the boxes could do the selling, so that is where the budget went.
A colour for each cake
Each cake got its own colour: yellow for lemon, orange for carrot, brown for chocolate and pink for birthday. The name runs across the lid in letters 6 cm tall, big enough to read from the shop door.
Stacked behind the counter, the boxes became the menu. The chalkboard came down in the first week, and nobody has asked for it back.
I chose the colours in pairs rather than one at a time, because the boxes are almost never seen alone. Each one had to hold its own beside the other three on a crowded shelf, and on a café table in full sun.
Three sizes, one sheet
Every box folds from the same dieline, drawn in three sizes that sit together on one press sheet. A single cutting form cuts them all, which is most of the saving on a small run, and the staff only have to learn one fold.
The cake box, for a whole cake, in that cake’s colour.
The cupcake box, which holds four from the weekend batch.
The candle box, slim and pink, sold at the till beside the birthday cake.
The paper bag, plain white, for slices to take away.
Seals instead of sticky tape
Orders used to leave with a handwritten note taped to the lid. Now each one is closed with a red seal from a printed sheet, with a line for the name and one for the pick-up time. The same seal closes the paper bags and holds the ribbon on gift orders.
The bakery’s owner noticed the difference at the counter before I did:
People used to point at the cakes. Now they point at the boxes and say the colour.
Reorders without me
The boxes print at a printer two streets from the bakery, in runs of 500 per colour. A one-page guide lists the four colour references, the board and the cutting form number, so the bakery can reorder without asking me first.
Bolo was shortlisted at the European Design Awards in 2025. The bakery mentions it far less often than the carrot cake.
Bolo
A cake box for every flavour, each a block of colour with the name big enough to read from the shop door.
Client
Bolo bakery, Porto
Year
2025
Work
Packaging and identity
Role
Identity, packaging, illustration
Bolo is a small bakery in Porto with a short menu: lemon drizzle, carrot, chocolate with raspberry and a birthday sprinkle cake, plus cupcakes from the same batters at the weekend. With four cakes to sell, the boxes could do the selling, so that is where the budget went.
A colour for each cake
Each cake got its own colour: yellow for lemon, orange for carrot, brown for chocolate and pink for birthday. The name runs across the lid in letters 6 cm tall, big enough to read from the shop door.
Stacked behind the counter, the boxes became the menu. The chalkboard came down in the first week, and nobody has asked for it back.
I chose the colours in pairs rather than one at a time, because the boxes are almost never seen alone. Each one had to hold its own beside the other three on a crowded shelf, and on a café table in full sun.
Three sizes, one sheet
Every box folds from the same dieline, drawn in three sizes that sit together on one press sheet. A single cutting form cuts them all, which is most of the saving on a small run, and the staff only have to learn one fold.
The cake box, for a whole cake, in that cake’s colour.
The cupcake box, which holds four from the weekend batch.
The candle box, slim and pink, sold at the till beside the birthday cake.
The paper bag, plain white, for slices to take away.
Seals instead of sticky tape
Orders used to leave with a handwritten note taped to the lid. Now each one is closed with a red seal from a printed sheet, with a line for the name and one for the pick-up time. The same seal closes the paper bags and holds the ribbon on gift orders.
The bakery’s owner noticed the difference at the counter before I did:
People used to point at the cakes. Now they point at the boxes and say the colour.
Reorders without me
The boxes print at a printer two streets from the bakery, in runs of 500 per colour. A one-page guide lists the four colour references, the board and the cutting form number, so the bakery can reorder without asking me first.
Bolo was shortlisted at the European Design Awards in 2025. The bakery mentions it far less often than the carrot cake.
Packaging and identity
2025