Craft x North Star Coffee Roasters

Design: Ollie Langridge
Project Type: Produced, Commercial Work
Client: Craft
Location: Leeds, UK
Packaging Contents: Coffee
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Paper, card
Printing Process: Foil

Always chasing their ambition of ‘breaking the mould and bringing joy to recruitment’, Craft are celebrating Christmas this year by launching their own coffee, in partnership with North Star Coffee Roasters.

The Leeds-based creative and digital recruitment business who are known for their positive approach to recruitment, and for sending beer to everyone who they help land a new job, Craft worked closely with North Star to identify a single origin coffee with tasting notes of Milk Chocolate, Date and Hazelnut which are sure to go down a treat this festive season – and of course caffeine is a vital ingredient in any smooth-running creative agency at this time of year!

Craft’s Founder, Dan Crowder, said “Following the success of our beer launch last year, we felt it was time to clear heads and win hearts with a coffee this time around. It’s been really rewarding for us to partner with North Star to celebrate the creative talent we have in Leeds, and is a great way to thank our fantastic clients for another top year.”

Celebrating creative talent, championing collaboration and growing the design industry are important to Craft, and this coffee campaign feels like a nicely balanced brew of all three. It’s a way of giving back to valued customers, clients and friends, sending thanks to those who continue to support the business. And in turn directly supports the producers of this single-origin coffee in Brazil, the Montanari family, who also have a clear vision when it comes to sustainability, long term viability and social impact.

North Star Coffee Roasters share the same values as Craft when it comes to connecting talent and collaboration. Founder Alex Kragiopoulos (known by all as ‘Krag’) says, “Our love for coffee comes from its power to connect people all over the world with a shared interest and goal. Craft have chosen a fantastic single origin bean as their Christmas gift and we’re pleased it will continue to connect people and businesses in the north.”

Designer Ollie Langridge was tasked with premiumising Craft’s distinctive look and feel in a celebratory gifting format, creating a folded card to sit over each coffee bag. This approach steps away from the bright and bold aesthetic Craft is known for, dialling down the bold shapes and bright colours into more refined, intricate festive illustrations.

What’s Unique?
Ollie Langridge said, “Now the Craft brand is well established in the North, it felt like the right time to have some fun with their iconic assets. Crafting a beautiful gold-foiled tree, star, and angel to celebrate a Christmas coffee feels quite far from the world of recruitment, but the guys can pull it off!”