Kingsmeade comes out on top in packaging award

Media release 7 March 2008

Kingsmeade comes out on top in packaging award

Kingsmeade Cheese Company has won the Curious Design Champion Cheese Packaging Award at the 2008 NZ Cuisine Champions of Cheese Awards, for the outstanding graphic design and packaging of their artisan cheese range.

Kingsmeade entered their cheeses as a group entry, as their packaging was designed as a flexible set, with strong creative that ties them together as one brand, while giving each cheese an individual identity.

This stand out entry uses three way colour coding (orange, blue and brown) to identify the different milk types - cow’s milk, ewe’s milk and a blend of the two. Those intolerant of cow’s milk know to choose from their orange-labelled cheeses.

The illustrations used on the labels reflect the landscape and environment of the Wairarapa, where the company is based. Each of the ewe’s cheese labels feature original illustrations of the grasses their sheep graze on. Similarly the cow’s cheese labels portray the trees around the paddocks and the blend cheese illustrations are of a coastal landscape.

Judges praised Kingsmeade for successfully tackling a design challenge in producing their packaging. Their cheese moulds are not uniform and often home-made, meaning the hand-cut cheeses are not exact and the packaging had to cater for this.

“Our cheeses are bagged, sealed and shrink-wrapped by hand. This produces variable results so our labelling needs to be flexible and embrace this unpredictability,” said Miles King, founder of Kingsmeade.

Nigel Kuzminski, director of Curious Design, and print expert Graeme Brazier judged this Award, looking for innovation, creativity and excellent execution in cheese packaging and commended all entries on their design and aesthetic quality.

Judges remarked on the Kingsmeade packaging, which gave the brand a personality with a novel twist, and on the labels that reflected the company’s heart and soul and passion for cheese.

“The images work together, but also stand strongly alone, reflecting the company and its values. It has a real earthy feel, further emphasised by the unique colour palate used,” commented judge Nigel Kuzminski.

The taste descriptions and ideas for storage and preparation on the labelling were also commended for being very persuasive and informative, making the product user-friendly and enticing.

Whitestone Cheese won a gold medal in this category, impressing judges with their unique branded cheese tin that showcased the 2006 Champion of Champions, Whitestone Windsor Blue.

The silver tin adds value to the cheese purchase by providing a simple, effective storage solution.

“This unique physical packaging looks good and is functional, creating and holding a microclimate for the cheese,” judges remarked.

New entrant to the awards, Kaimai, won a silver medal - a fantastic achievement for a young cheese company. Kaimai, a newly established Waikato based cheese company, specialises in a range of blue vein and white mould cheeses among others.

Their marketing presentation had cheeses in a wooden box nestled in a blue gingham cloth, giving it a real earthy feel, remarked the judges.

“It says farm and country, with its understated, unique colour palette. The simplicity of this packaging is very fine and you focus on the cheese, while gaining a sense of history and tradition about the brand.”

The 2008 NZ Cuisine Champion of Cheese Awards were judged last Sunday at Massey University and winners were awarded at an official Gala Dinner at SKYCITY on Tuesday 4 March.

ENDS

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