The East India Company

Partnering with the historic luxury fine food company to facilitate growth and international expansion, through packaging, storytelling and branded interior design. 

Bringing the brand experience of ‘Remarkable Connections’ to life through design.

At its height (in 1600), The East India Company was the single most powerful economic entity the world had ever seen, responsible for 50% of the world’s trade and employing 25% of Britain’s population.

Four hundred years later, the brand still has worldwide resonance and recall. Today, it is a luxury brand for the modern commercial world. The pioneering company brings customers extraordinary goods from around the world, fairly, ethically and responsibly. It specialises in spices, porcelain, chintz and foods crafted by artisans and specialists worldwide, with carefully sourced ingredients, unique recipes and distinguished provenances. 

Each product from The East India Company is infused with a special quality that makes it unique. We work with the brand to communicate the depth of the brand through all in-store touchpoints, with packaging and store designs richly imbued with storytelling. Grounded in the brand promise of ‘Remarkable Connections’, our designs aim to bring the brand’s innovative spirit to life.

Our award-winning chocolate packaging designs add a touch of luxury to reflect a taste of the exotic. Rich elements evoke a sense of intrigue, with a design inspired by the Company’s fusion of cultures, materials and silks and a narrative based on the exploration and journeys of the Company’s merchants.

The design language conveys the brand’s story through the usage of old maps and etched style illustrations, reflecting the historic skills of the craftsmen who have created goods for the trading company throughout the centuries. The illustrations are anchored over navigation lines, reflecting the Company’s original journeys. 

True to the pioneering spirit of the company, each store encompasses something unique and luxurious from the market it’s trading in. This rich combination of influences is reflected in the store interiors from London to Doha and Singapore to Sydney, and from flagships to travel retail concessions.

The flagship store we designed in Edinburgh alludes to the company’s extensive history in Scotland, while subtly evoking its contemporary brand narrative of ‘Remarkable Connections’ between East and West. Elements such as the simple timeline graphic behind the cash desk highlight the Company’s Scottish heritage story.

To create an experience that keeps customers returning in-store, the flagship features a new hospitality offer that invites customers to sit, relax and try a selection of the very finest teas. The teas are served on bespoke, interlocking tasting tables topped in marble and inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Shaped in the famous paisley motif, they tied strongly to the EIC’s local history – the Company brought the Indian pattern to Scotland to be produced in Paisley in the nineteenth century. 

Ever innovative, The East India Company today is constantly evolving the business for the changing world. We are now designing an all encompassing brand experience called The Empire, a mansion house hosting a tea parlour & orangerie, a gentlemen’s club, fine dining, bakery & patisserie, a retail offer, roof terrace dining, a ball room and gardens.