Pork Buns
Initially started as an idea for a public anthology, I've recently stumbled into designing potential merchandise based off the zodiac.
Starting off with a prospective plushie design based off boars in the shape of steamed buns for the Year of the Boar- literal pork buns ;). The below image is actually my third set of designs- it was surprisingly difficult to make a pig look distinct and yet remain cute; they got rounder and rounder! Wasn't happy with the design until the idea of making them look like dumplings- where the ears forming the crimps of the steamed buns gave a distinguishing feature.
From the beginning, I had planned on having 8 different color options as I wanted to create super indulgent hypothetical packaging in the form of a paper bamboo steamer. Color variations were thus based off other known steamed bun fillings.
Ultimately I cut down to 4 colors to start as production costs were higher than I expected and would have been unwise to invest in an idea that might not sell. I held an incredibly rudimentary vote via social media to see which colors were most popular and went with top 3 in addition to the original color.
Unfortunately due to the limitations of Pantone swatches, final colors differed slightly from initial design.
I ended up researching several plushie manufacturers that I could outsource to, taking into account the price per bulk quantity (I aimed for between 250-500 per color). Unfortunately even when ordering at 1000 pieces, the estimated price was still $5 per piece, which I didn't feel quite comfortable committing to without a sure audience.
I did receive a prototype before I decided to halt production: here was the first draft!
On to packaging!
As the plushies were based off pork buns, I wanted the packaging to keep in line with the theme whilst remaining functional. Resultantly, hypothetical packaging would be based off the classic bamboo steamer with the paper tag being a dumpling shaped cut out.
Constructed entirely out of chipboard and paper, I wanted to use the idea behind soda cup lids to create packaging that didn't rely on plastic molding and so was entirely recyclable.
...did I say hypothetical?
I spent 2 days that I probably shouldn't have creating a proof of concept prototype :'). Albeit, being handmade and relying purely on layering to keep a solid structure, the box was a lot heavier and bulkier than ideal.
I'm still debating coming back to this project, but keeping purely hypothetical and next steps would be trying out a digital render. Looking forward to designing the paper packaging and brand elements!
