Forno Brisa launches open call for artists to design packaging

Forno Brisa, a renowned bakery in Bologna, Italy, has launched an open call for artists, designers, and creatives to design packaging for its products. The initiative, announced in 2021, invites participants to download templates from the bakery's website and create designs for boxes and bags used for bread, pizza, panettone, chocolate, coffee, and shopping bags. Selected artists will receive 25 packages of their designed packaging filled with products, under a 'work to food' compensation model. Founders Pasquale Polito and Davide Sarti emphasize that beauty is as important as taste, social impact, and ecology. They view packaging as a 'mobile canvas' for positive messages, encouraging reuse rather than disposal. This is not Forno Brisa's first art collaboration; since opening its first store in Bologna in 2015, the bakery has commissioned murals and packaging designs from street artists including Rusty, Collettivo FX, Cuoghi e Corsello, Kiki Skipi, Andrea Casciu, Leon BBS, Never2501, and Magnum Photos photographer Paolo Pellegrin, who designed the 2021 Easter dove cake box. The bakery sources flour from its own wheat fields in Nocciano, Abruzzo, and has recently expanded into chocolate and coffee roasting.