East Alstead Roasting Company
Designer | Owen Miller, with existing artwork by his father, Randy Miller
Location | East Alstead, New Hampshire, USA
Launch Date | December 31, 2023
Our design was inspired by my father’s wood engravings from when he was an active artist in the ‘70s and ‘80s. East Alstead Roasting Co. is in a small town in rural New Hampshire, located in the house my family grew up in, and we started the business in large part to bring great specialty coffee to this region of the country. Using my father’s art (with permission) was a no-brainer for me as he’s always been an inspiration to me personally and because his engravings depict the local landscape and old-timey culture of this area. There are scenes of farmscapes and contra dancers, Mount Monadnock and maple sugaring. It's a more classical look, bucking the trend of increasingly modern or esoteric packaging. They're stately, winsome, and old-fashioned. The form and texture are not new but the design and muted color palette are subtly unique. The collage-like design evokes old newspaper pages to some. The brand name and coffee origin label font are slim but stark, pairing big and bold with thin and elegant. The buyer gets some great coffee and also a chance to explore the tiny scenes on the package like a kid reading the back of a cereal box. People in this area aren't as familiar with specialty coffee, so I've tried to design a bag that would appeal to both specialty coffee noobs and seasoned, knowledgeable consumers. We're trying to sneak great coffee into an unsuspecting region and I think our design gets people of all coffee experiences curious to learn more. I see our roasting business as a kind of bridge between the average coffee drinker and the wonderful world of specialty coffee.
