Mikel Arnao · Product Design Engineer
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p. 15Work 07 · Packaging & Brand

OLEA × Alpesa

Proving that a cardboard tube can carry a premium extra-virgin olive oil brand.

My role
Structural design of the tube and closures, technical drawings and renders.
Year
2025
Client
Alpesa
Context
Packaging Innovation Cluster · company brief
Team
Leire Arias, Mikel Arnao, Manex Gonzalez, Maria Martinez
Tools
Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, KeyShot
OLEA tube in an Andalusian olive grove.
Fig. 01OLEA tube in an Andalusian olive grove.
§ 01

Context and brief

Alpesa makes cardboard tubes. The challenge was to show they can work in high-value segments. Premium extra-virgin olive oil grows around 12 % a year in the specialised European channel, yet most of its packaging does not live up to the product.

§ 02

Research

A benchmark of Castillo de Canena, Almazaras de la Subbética, Oro Bailén and Finca de la Torre found shared values: materiality over visual impact, origin as the main argument, typographic restraint and full coherence. None of them had explored the tube.

Inspiration: cortijo floors and olive-grove geometry.
Fig. 02Inspiration: cortijo floors and olive-grove geometry.
§ 03

Concept

From territory to object: unvarnished kraft recalls the walls and floors of the cortijo, a classical serif recalls oil-mill labels and the olive grove seen from the air becomes pattern.

Process: from line to form.
Fig. 03Process: from line to form.
Form and dimensions.
Fig. 04Form and dimensions.
§ 04

Result

The OLEA tube.
Fig. 05The OLEA tube.
Experience: from the shop shelf to the table.
Fig. 06Experience: from the shop shelf to the table.
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