Kolokolschik

Design: Alexander Kislov
Location: Russia
Project Type: Student Project
School: HSE Art and Design School
Tutor: Leonid Slavin
Packaging Contents: Tea
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Aluminium

‘Kolokolschik’ chefir drink — a strong iced tea with mint, honey and taiga berries.

‘Chefir’ is a traditional Russian prison drink, made with large quantities of ordinary black leaf tea. The drink acts as a tonic, adding some excitement to the humdrum life of a prison inmate in a maximum-security penitentiary in the Russian North.

The biggest source of inspiration for me were prison tattoos found on the bodies of Russian inmates, all of which have special meanings and histories, which often arouse the interest of anthropologists and historians, and are capable of telling a person’s entire biography.