Not what you’d expect: Korak Studio’s packaging for Kopex’s Ajvar shuns traditional design tropes

Ajvar is a star amongst pantry staples in kitchens throughout much of Southeast Europe. The traditional roast pepper spread or homemade jams, made from sunbathed fruits, is slathered on toast and meat and is even used as a dip to spice up a meal. When these spreads are made at home, they’re usually bottled in reused jars with handwritten stickers; on the shelves of grocery stores, ajvar packaging commonly features traditional patterns and decorative motifs. Kopex – a micro brand that brings these domestic condiments to the table straight from the heart of Serbia’s famous Kopaonik mountain – wanted a different look and feel for its line of ajvar, and so, they rang up Belgrade and London-based design practice Korak Studio. The team at Korak was familiar with the usual tropes of Ajvar packaging, which helped them push beyond the expected notions to create something more exciting. “In the case of Ajvar, almost 95% of packaging designs take some sort of traditional, or ‘ethnic’ approach; sometimes, the packaging lacks character. Nevertheless, there are some very good examples of packaging design in Serbia,” Creative Director ​​Kosta Rakicevic tells us. These insights were important for the team to help Kopex differentiate their product, letting them put a fresh spin on the packaging of the traditional Serbian condiment. “Everything we did is almost opposite to what is expected of ajvar packaging,” adds Rakicevic. To turn the commonplace jar into an object that would stand out on shelves, the team wrapped it in tall typography, set in an adjusted version of Rainer by Vectro Type, “that reads only when you roll the jar in your hands,” he notes. Designed to inspire interaction with the product, the label also features illustrations in the style of newspaper comic strips, giving the brand a light, relaxed and self-confident tone. On the website, these characters were animated to spotlight the true heroes of the condiments – the sunkissed apricots, peppers, spring onions and the other veggies and fruits the jams and spreads are made of.