Behind the Scenes: A look at how we create our detailed labels

Back in 1991, when Jim and Jonathan headed to their first Farmers' Market in Portsmouth, NH to sell their first jars of jams and marmalade they spent hours hand writing all of the labels the night before.  Now, more than 20 years later our labels are still created in a similar fashion; at least the first one is before going to print.

The process of creating our labels is not nearly as simple as it appears when you're looking at in on the shelf in your local store. Have you ever really looked closely at the beautiful images found on our labels?  Those are hand sketched by our extremely talented Senior Graphic Designer, Melissa.  Not only does she hand sketch each botanical on our labels, she also helps to paint a lot of the packaging you see in the stores, such as the wraps you see on our candles.


Yes, these are ALL hand painted!

And the product name you see?  Those are all still hand written by owner and founder, Jonathan.  If you look closely at our products you'll notice that they are not all exactly the same.  He obviously no longer writes each and every one, but he does write the first version which is then transferred onto the labels for design and printing.

When a new product is approved for production (you can read about our approval process here) Melissa gets started on any botanical that will be on the label, while Jonathan gets to work writing out a few versions to pick from.

Melissa sketching a botanical that will go on one of our new products launched in January 2013

This botanical will go on a label, often as an accent behind the product name, or on the side panel.

Jonathan submits a few versions of each product and selects which one should go on the packaging

Here is an example of a completed label.  Notice the beautiful image in the background, and the hand written text.

As mentioned previously, a lot of our packaging is also hand painted as well;

Using real fruit as a guide, Melissa was able to create this fantastic packaging that is currently being used for our Toast and Jam Gift.

Final Product

It is always amazing to see the time and effort that goes into each and every product we place on our shelves and we are lucky to have such an amazing team that pulls together each detail necessary for the final product.  Next time you are enjoying our product, be sure to take a close look and enjoy the small details along with the quality taste.