Rosey’s adventures illustrated, and a cup of rose tea

Talking about our new products – the pyramid tea bags with roses, we are thrilled to tell about each product element and its role. Starting from the crystal bio-degradable material of the pyramid tea bags, through the individual foil packaging of every tea bag which preserves the best way possible the quality of the herbs, right to the design of the box. At first sight, it’s difficult not to notice the illustrations of the dreamy girl holding a basket full of roses and riding a bike. In the next lines we meet you with the author of our character named Rosey. Besides being an animator artist, Kalina Detcheva is and a personal friend of ours from our young and dancing life period. Let’s meet her now…

Hi, Kalina! Please introduce yourself in your words.

Kalina: Hi! My name is Kalina and I draw since I can remember. My passion for drawing has begun when I was very little, when my mom used to give me and my sister all kinds of drawing materials. Growing up, I was fascinated by cartoon movies (which in that times were mainly hand-drawn) and that turned into my profession. I’ve created four author cartoon movies that went to international festivals and I am proud they were awarded. In my free time I continue drawing. I had also two individual gallery exhibitions with drawings with my favourite technique, crayon. Recently, I have opened an Etsy shop where I am selling my illustrations. It’s more of a hobby, a place to share my inspiration and make someone happy with my artworks.

When we were starting our work on the  concept of our premium teas in pyramid tea bags, with this specific product line we wanted to give more flesh to Rosey’s Mark by creating a visual expression of our brand’s lyrical character, Rosey. We have envisioned her as a peculiar companion leading to the unlimited possibilities and functional properties of Bulgarian rose flower in food and drinks. In that line of thoughts, it didn’t take too long before we think of you and your experience of animation artist. It turn out, however, that it’s a first time experience in packaging design. How did you find our brief?

Kalina: Yes, for the first time I had to work on packaging and it turned out to be very interesting and challenging for me. I had to recreate the poetic feeling that always came to me thinking of Rosey’s mark, and in the same time, to comply with the limitations of the box frame. And I had to think in tridimensionality – how all I draw would look like from all sides of the box!

Can you tell us more about your creative process on this job? Where did you start and what has inspired you?

Kalina: The name and the idea of Rosey’s mark inspire me by themselves, with their tenderness. I liked a lot the idea of Rosey – a beautiful, full of life and energy girl. First, I tried to imagine her in my mind, to feel her. I started doing sketches of her and then drawing with watercolour. That’s the technique I liked the most for this project, as it is light, gentle and fairy. Then it came to the packaging design thinking – what and where should be placed. For me it was of importance not to over-crowd it in order to keep its lightness. I hope the box grabs the attention at first sight! 🙂

You are showing our lyrical character in different moments of hers. Can you tell us how did you choose what should she look like on the rose tea Beauty box and on the rose and green tea Energy box?

Kalina: I came from the names of the tea blends. First in my head just showed up Rosey on a bicycle, for the Energy box. It cane naturally to recreate her in motion, and in the same time the bicycle can be very elegant and “French style”. That the process started building on. After I had the first visual expression, I went to recreating the girls with just roses, for the Beauty box. While I was envisioning her, I literally started to feel the rose aroma. Then I thought, how can I visually show an aroma?! Then the flying roses and rose petals brought by the wind came to life. And that’s how I got to the clear concept.

And what do you work on at the moment?

Kalina: For some time I have that thought in my mind, to write and illustrate a “fairy-tale for grown-ups”. That’s something I dream about but I still haven’t got the time for it. Both of my draft stories are waiting and sleeping. I hope time will affect them as it affects a good whiskey. 🙂 On the side, I am also making illustrations for my Etsy shop.

Your illustrations have distinguishing style that we find really charming, warm and friendly. We especially like the bears family. Let’s share now, where your illustrations can be seen and bought?

Kalina: Yes, I hope my illustrations can bring joy to someone. You can find me on Etsy under the name “Little Bear Dream”.

And here is a link to my last cartoon short – Miles, for which Mihail Yosifov played with its trumpet beautiful author’s music.

Thank you, Kalina. We wish you lots of inspiration and occasions to create many more magical cartoon characters.