The brief
Beatriz Moura roasts cacao from four farms in a former bakery in Marvila. She had four bars, a loyal market stall and no name. Shops liked the chocolate and could not remember what it was called, because it was not called anything.
She asked for a name a stranger could say after one look, and a wrapper that did not need a story printed on the back.
What we made
- The name. Selva is the forest the cacao grows in. It is short, it reads the same in four languages and it sets well in capitals.
- One wrapper, four colours. Every bar wears uncoated paper in the colour of its origin, with a single cream band. The band carries the name and nothing else.
- Gold where it is opened. A line of foil shows only at the end of the bar, so the first thing a buyer touches is the paper.
- The shop. A small website that sells the four bars, the tin and the gift box, with photographs shot on the same paper.
What changed
Selva went from one market stall to thirty-one shops in a year. The wrapper is the reason buyers give most often for picking it up, and the reason shop owners give for putting it by the till.
The band was the hardest part. Every week it got narrower, and every week the bar looked better.
