Industrial Design

Herdeiros Passanha - Oil

We were commissioned by Base Design and Portuguese company Herdeiros Passanha to design a new glass bottle to mark the relaunch of one of Portugal's oldest olive oil producers, a family business with roots going back to 1738. The brief was to create something that honoured that heritage while looking entirely forward. The resulting bottle is built around a drop form divided into upper and lower halves by a horizontal ridge, referencing the shape of an olive press and simultaneously emphasising the oil and its colour within. The project produced two distinct bottles. The first, for Passanha's Quinta de São Vicente oil, won an AIGA award and established the visual language of the brand. The second, for their premium Dom Diogo extra virgin oil, took that language further with a matte black coating and a contemporary stencil typeface that referenced the handmade tradition of Portuguese olive oil production. Dom Diogo itself was the gold medal winner at the Bienal do Azeite in Castelo Branco, and the bottles have since become a reference point in premium food packaging design.