Herbert Walkers was commissioned to deliver a new look for Hotel Chocolat’s core range with a design that sought to recreate the fluted tin packaging for the client’s Ostrich Easter Egg packaging, using accurately shaded print and precision embossing to achieve trompe l’oeil depth and texture.

The brief included bringing the new design to print for the whole of Hotel Chocolat’s core range, including use of the client’s established colour palette for different chocolate collections and the aspirational Hotel Chocolat logo in a fluted foil embossed finish.

The Herbert Walkers team worked closely with the client to create bespoke tooling for the project with our in-house die making capabilities to deliver the optimum depth of emboss for the tactile, fluted effect on the substrate.

By perfecting the depth of colour needed to create the shadow effect on the ripple design, we were able to optimise the illusion of a three-dimensional rippled tin, replicating the curves of the pack that inspired the design.

The finished range was achieved following a six-month collaboration between Hotel Chocolat and the Herbert Walker team, which considered aesthetics, practicalities and commercial factors. Our remit included printing, cutting, creasing and gluing of the packs, ready for Hotel Chocolat’s automated packaging lines, and responding to Hotel Chocolat’s sales forecasts in real time, to provide printed boxes aligned to customer demand.