Our task was to create the brand identity and packaging for Tessas apple juice, cider, and honey, while exploring a more honest storytelling for an organic farm, helping people to appreciate the difference between conventional farming practices and a new radical approach to fruit growing.
The concept ‘Tessas Eplegårds Venner’ (= Tessa's Orchard Friends) makes an effort to understand ourselves as part of the ecosystem and to bring us closer to those “others” that have been excluded from discourse, creating a new proximity that generates different types of relationships and care. While birds and other critters, might damage fruit crops, they also provide services that can benefit fruit growing. Animals and insects are important collaborators, and taking steps to conserve and enhance bird populations on the farm provides natural pest-control services while also benefitting biodiversity.

The idea sprouts from the connection we found between Henrik Wergeland’s passion for gardening and fruit growing and the beginning of "Det Norske Hagelskap (earlier called “Havedyrkningens venner”)“ inspired by Wergelands "Kaal og Rot Selskabet”, founded the same decade as the farm.
The mark is inspired by the old logo for Det Norske Hageselskap, a carnation
(“the flower of love” in Greek), allowing to continue a conversation with different views on farming practices within the local community.
Furthermore, Wergeland wrote a ‘Protocol’ for the association, which we have adapt for Tessa, listing 10 principles of ecological practice based on a peaceful coexistence. Each product is dedicated to a principle on the protocol, supported by an illustration of the critter to which we dedicate a rhyming poem and an abstract pattern.

Inspired by this eco-philosophical approach, we dedicated the naming, illustrations, and storytelling of each product to the birds, insects, and fungi considered “enemies of apple trees.” Each product playfully thanks each critter for their contribution to the life on the farm and places friendship at the centre, as a metaphor for a new way of thinking about ecology and our role in the ecosystem. In the search for desirable futures and a world of coexistence, we invited several illustrators to the project, amplifying collaboration and beauty in diversity.

Tessas Eplegård aspires to cultivate both nature and culture by offering a new holiday experience, through creative residencies at the farm in the off-season. Edvard Grieg famously stayed at the farm with his wife Nina for two summers.

The production scale of Tessas products is very small and needed to find a balance between craft, economy, and offer flexibility. While we created custom label die-cuts, the blind debossing cliche is common to all products, and we used the same size of seal for both 33cl and 75cl. Each product is digitally numbered.

The first products launched are three single varieties of apple juice in a 3-liter bag in a box (3l BIB). The apple juice is called “Dompap,” one of the migratory birds who likes to eat apples.
To support a small-scale production, a common 3l BIB design printed in one color is differentiated by two labels. One label illustrating the birds on an apple tree branch, positioned on a debossed area. On the short side, a color-coded label system presents each apple variety as a character in a playful and humorous way. The box is glue-free with an integrated handle, to avoid any use of plastics.

Language has the power to reduce our impact on the natural world. We believe storytelling can shift the way we understand and act in the world. The global north, with its philosophy that places humans on the top of the pyramid, needs rethinking.
How do we convey ecocentrism when we are surrounded by anthropocentric and capitalistic narratives? Tessa’s narrative shows a humble and loving attitude towards our natural world, fostering interspecies mutualism.
Can design contribute to this debate and become an agent for change? Even though the impact of a small farm is little, we think the effort of contributing with alternative storytelling is important. Tessas is one of only two organic farms in Hardanger. While materials have all been considered, from FSC-certified paper, glue-free BIB with an integrated handle and embellishments like blind embossing, we believe the narrative on the products of an ecologic practice might be just as important to empower people to make good choices.

In Tessa and Ander’s own words: “Farming organically is more labor-intensive than the traditional methods where the use chemicals against pests and weeds is common. This is a method we do not want to pursue, as we believe it is not what the future should look like. With our background in biology, we are both aware of the importance of insects in our orchards and of their intrinsic value. There is a big interplay of species, especially during the summer, and we try not to disturb that balance. We operate organically not only to avoid injecting residues into our apple juice, but also for the insects and birds out there that deserve to live in a good environment. There are many considerations and responsibilities to take as a farmer; knowledge is required, and it is constantly developing …”