Dear Amigos,
What if the French court had settled in Brazil? This question sparked the existence of Maria Antonieta, a blend of bistro, boulangerie, pâtisserie, and chocolaterie that has been delighting the Brazilian market with excellence for over a decade. Seeking to start a new chapter for the brand, owner Mateus Matana approached Melt Design to embark on a dynamic creative partnership.
They needed a visual identity and packaging system that could translate the allegory “As French as ever, but Brazilian like never before” into a cohesive and diverse product line. For their luxury tea collection, the challenge was to tell an enchanting story of heritage and prestige within a limited packaging space, creating curiosity without losing the brand’s sophisticated atmosphere.
A French Greenhouse in a Box
The project relies on the delicacy of shapes and the subtlety of its visual assets to draw the consumer in. Drawing inspiration from the structures of Art Nouveau garden greenhouses, the studio crafted a setting fit for an afternoon tea with the ladies of the French court. Each tea flavor is assigned a distinct pastel color and adorned with detailed illustrations of its ingredients.
The narrative unfolds further with cameo portraits of historical figures like Queen Marie Antoinette herself, the Princess of Lamballe, and Madame Du Barry. Every inch of the packaging is treated as a canvas for storytelling: even the lids mimic the glass roofs of those European garden domes. When looking at how this was reflected in the development of the brand’s visual book, the studio treated the entire design system as a historical journal, inviting consumers to read every detail and feel the exclusivity of the narrative in their hands.
Regal Serifs and Modern Structure
This Franco-Brazilian narrative demanded a typographic palette that could balance historical opulence with contemporary aesthetics. To anchor the classical elegance, the studio utilized Playfair Display, a transitional serif designed by Claus Eggers Sørensen. Taking heavy influence from the late 18th-century work of John Baskerville that aligns with the actual era of the French court and the Enlightenment.
This foundation is beautifully contrasted by Craw Modern, a display serif designed by Freeman Craw in 1958. Its Clarendon-style bracketed serifs provide a grounded counterpoint to the delicate Art Nouveau illustrations, keeping the design from feeling overly vintage. Finally, the system is supported by Bicyclette, a highly contrasted sans-serif by Nikola Kostić for Kostic Type Foundry. Designed specifically to convey balance and elegance, Bicyclette ties the entire typographic ecosystem together with a clean finish.
About MeltDesign
Melt Design is a Brazilian design studio specializing in branding. Founded in 2010 and proudly led by two women in Campinas, São Paulo, the studio operates on a highly collaborative and sensitive methodology. They immerse themselves in the essence of a business to reframe ideas and express emotions through design, treating their clients’ dreams as their own. This philosophy has earned them international acclaim and multiple awards for packaging design. Whether they are turning Siberian adventures into illustrative wonders for Clemens Chocolate, doing a vibrant, shape-driven rebranding for HolySoup, or bringing the French court to Brazil, their visual identity work consistently turns every product into a shelf star. Make sure to check out their full portfolio here.
Signed,
A type of Ari.
