New Australian fragrance line, Milla Milla, recently caught our eye with its fresh brand and unexpected approach to packaging. GSM takes a closer look…
Milla Milla – The Brand
At the heart of Milla Milla’s range of handcrafted fragrances are exquisite native botanicals. This thoughtful approach permeates throughout the business—from sourcing ingredients to production and packaging, supporting industry and charitable initiatives, and upholding an ethos of sustainability in all areas.
Developing The Brand
Milla Milla engaged Tom and Phoebe Simpson of Known By to develop the brand identity and packaging. The objective: capture the nuances of the brand story. Tom explains,
‘Developing brands, products and packaging is an interesting process. We need to satisfy the client’s vision, yet also design for the end customer. Somewhere between these, we create something unique. Ultimately an expression of our inspiration and experience.’
The Back Story
First, we listen to the story behind the client. We want to know why they’re here and what inspires them. In this case, co-founder Camilla, had a particular angle that heavily influenced the project—quitting a corporate job to pursue a love for flowers and becoming a florist.
Making Milla Milla Memorable
Following these conversations and undertaking some mood-boarding, the Known By team gave some shape and feel to Australian flora as a fragrance.
‘We were tackling the brand, packaging, and artwork at the same time. Early development was a push and pull with many different ideas. Followed by an editing process of selecting what’s on-brief. We’d been asked to bring colour and disrupt the fragrance industry, which tends to be dominated by monochromatic palettes and a same-sameness. Milla Milla needed to stand out and be memorable. To be earthy and vibrant and tell the story of Australian natives’.
The Design Process
’We were lucky’, explains Phoebe, ‘as the other co-founder, Scott, is an architect. He appreciates what it takes to create something from nothing. They wanted the process’.
The project came accompanied with an extensive mood board supplied by the client. So one challenge was honing these many aesthetic styles and ideas into one clear direction. The client wanted to mix vintage or retro, whilst keeping a high end feel. Camila explains,
‘I had never imagined the brand to look how it does, but now its done—that’s exactly how it’s meant to look’.
The brand captured everything the team set out to achieve, but not in an explicit way. More subconsciously as a result of the approach, perspective, and drawing on inspiration, but leaving space for play and surprise. Tom explains, ‘Milla Milla is breaking into the beauty world through an honest, vibrant style’.
The Packaging
The next challenge was packaging. To design a box that maximised space for artwork, showcased the bottle, and was a recyclable solution. Achieving this meant developing a paper-only construction that maintained enough structural integrity to carry the glass fragrance bottle.
As Tom explains, ‘For the applied graphics, it had always been part of the vision to maximise the artwork on the packaging. However, during development we found we needed to reduce the box size to better support the bottle, which reduced our surface area. Inadvertently, this led to continuing the graphics through to the inside to get more coverage. This creates a really nice surprise as the customer opens the box. The insert is also made from board—a significantly more sustainable option than commonly used foam.
Ball & Doggett Barry Bleach Board
Both box and insert are constructed from Ball & Doggett Barry Bleach Board. This is an ultra-smooth, double-sided premium folding boxboard—perfect for printing on both sides. It is FSC certified, with an ISO9001 Quality Management System certification to fit with the brand’s philosophy of sustainability. The result is a sustainable packaging solution that looks amazing.
Barry Bleach Board FBB is available in Australia through Ball & Doggett. For our Kiwi readers; the equivalent folding box board through BJ Ball is Metsa Prime Bright. For more Information on these stocks go to:
Australian readers: //ballanddoggett.com.au
New Zealand readers: //bjall.co.nz
