Packaging Design: Stereoscope Coffee by OlssønBarbieri
OlssønBarbieri crafted a sculptural packaging design for Stereoscope Coffee, pairing mountain-shaped boxes with tactile trigram cut-outs.
Based in Oslo, design studio OlssønBarbieri developed a holistic packaging design and visual identity for Los Angeles specialty coffee roaster Stereoscope. Founded by Leif An, the roastery approaches Coffee Arabica not as an inert trade commodity, but as an endangered living organism carrying complex ecological and historical weight. The identity takes inspiration from the stereoscope optical instrument, channeling Leif An’s core maxim: "In pursuit of depth and simplicity." Drawing directly on Chinese cosmological philosophy, the visual system structures duality through the balance of yin and yang, where circular forms and cosmic voids give birth to the five natural elements. Rather than relying on familiar craft pouch conventions, OlssønBarbieri translated this philosophy into a tactile physical architecture built on four distinct seasonal colorways, hot foil blocking, and sculptural paperboard vessels.
Cosmological Typographic Systems and Structural Packaging Design
The typographic foundation mirrors this cosmological framework with an unpredictable graphic pulse. OlssønBarbieri selected a grotesque sans serif engineered with five distinct character widths. When set across labels and editorial panels, these varying letter widths assemble in random permutations, evoking the five petals of the coffee blossom, the five elements of nature, and the continuous flux of organic matter. On the front of each box, a modular card-based labelling system handles technical origin data. Die-cut openings shaped like Bagua trigrams pierce the paper surface, framing specific roast variables, farmer relationships, and fermentation profiles printed on the underlying cards. This architectural cut-out establishes layered physical depth while keeping the typography disciplined, utilitarian, and legible across every packaging design format.
Material integrity defines every physical touchpoint across the packaging design system. The bespoke retail cartons are produced from FSC-certified paperboard sculpted into an angular silhouette that recalls the high-altitude mountain topography where premium Arabica thrives. A clean tear-off strip introduces a measured opening ritual to morning coffee preparation, while rounded hot foil stamping embellishes the exterior panels with metallic precision. Inside the protective outer shell, whole beans rest in biodegradable bags made of 99.6 percent plant-based material. In a poetic reversal of standard marketing copy, the bags feature first-person text where the coffee seeds articulate their own biological origin and farming journey. For direct-to-consumer subscriptions, the studio extended this geometry into single-pack mountain shapes and skewed rectangular prisms that pack together without wasting shipping volume.
See the full packaging design project by OlssønBarbieri on Behance.
