Press Release
Chocolate Mouth Artisan Bonbon Chocolates by Olha Takhtarova Receives the Bronze A' Design Award in Packaging Design
The international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Olha Takhtarova for packaging design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 24, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Chocolate Mouth Artisan Bonbon Chocolates by Olha Takhtarova, designed for SOT Branding & Design, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Packaging Design category. The result belongs to the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
What the Bronze A' Design Award Means
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
Regarding Chocolate Mouth Artisan Bonbon Chocolates
Chocolate Mouth is a packaging design for an artisan bonbon chocolate brand. The design moves away from traditional and romantic chocolate packaging and uses a bold and playful visual style. Custom illustrations were created for the project, including skeletons, retro tattoo motifs and Austin landmarks. The illustrations form a consistent system that works across several gift box collections and seasonal releases. Two box sizes are used, measuring 250 by 250 by 40 millimeters and 180 by 120 by 40 millimeters. Each box is designed to be kept as a collectible object.
About Olha Takhtarova
My career in Design started in 2006. I worked as an Interior Designer and Graphic Designer in creative and design companies. Today I continue my way in my own studio. My own design studio SOT B&D was opened in 2015. The studio majors are visual identification, packaging, web design, illustration. More than 400 projects for local and foreign clients from Ukraine, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Poland, UAE, Russia, USA were implemented by SOT B&D within 6 years. My favorite part of the project is creating the design itself when all the information is collected, briefs are read, meetings are held, details are clarified.
Award Record
Olha Takhtarova is a winner of 14 A' Design Awards, including this recognition. The awards span the editions from 2019 - 2020 to 2025 - 2026 of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Packaging Design Award
The A' Packaging Design Award is an international packaging competition that recognizes outstanding packaging designs by talented packaging designers worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to packaging designers, graphic designers, branding agencies and product manufacturers from all countries. Entries typically include bottles, boxes, cans, pouches, tubes and cartons. Awarded packaging designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/packaging
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/183591
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/183591
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!183591
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/257426
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://sotdesign.com
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Chocolate Mouth Artisan Bonbon Chocolates
- Function
- Artisan Bonbon Chocolates
- Category
- Packaging Design
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Industry
- Packaging & Retail, Branding & Advertising and Manufacturing
- Colors
- White, Light Sky Blue, Sky Blue, Black and Rosy Brown
- Images
- 5
- Client
- SOT Branding & Design
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Olha Takhtarova
- Country
- United States of America
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #183591
Credits
- Image Credits
- Olha Takhtarova
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Chocolate Mouth is an artisan chocolate brand from Austin, Texas, known for its handcrafted bonbons and playful, unconventional gift boxes. The brand was created to bring personality, humor, and attitude back to chocolate - moving away from traditional, overly romantic chocolate branding. The concept was built around the spirit of Austin, a city famous for its creative culture, music, art, and the well-known phrase Keep Austin Weird.
- Inspiration
- The main challenge was to create a brand that would stand out in a market dominated by traditional, elegant, and predictable chocolate packaging. Chocolate Mouth wanted something different - something that reflects real life, real emotions, and real personalities. Their chocolate is not only for holidays like Valentine’s Day or weddings. It’s for breakups, celebrations, random Tuesdays, and everything in between.
- Research
- These illustrations create a visual language that feels alive, unconventional, and unmistakably Austin. The packaging was designed to function like mini art posters, turning each chocolate box into a collectible object rather than just a container. To support the brand experience online, we also designed and developed a custom e-commerce website that continues the same visual storytelling. The site reflects the same bold personality - colorful, playful, slightly weird, and unmistakably unique.
- Challenge
- We created a bold and expressive visual identity that reflects Austin’s culture and the brand’s playful personality. The project included the development of: Logo Design, Brand Identity System, Packaging Design for multiple chocolate box collections, Custom Illustration System, E-commerce Website Design & Development
- Realization and Technology
- A key part of the brand identity is the custom illustration style, created specifically for this project. Every illustration was designed from scratch and brings its own character to the packaging, ranging from playful skeletons and retro tattoos to Austin landmarks and cultural references.
- Operation and Interaction
- Our goal was to translate this unique energy into a brand that feels bold, expressive, and a little rebellious, while still celebrating the craft of small-batch chocolate making. The brand needed to capture: the creative and slightly chaotic energy of Austin, a strong visual personality, packaging that feels collectible, fun, and memorable, a visual system that could work across multiple themed gift boxes and seasonal drops.
- Project Duration and Location
- Started in August 2025 and finished in February 2026 in Texas, USA
- Specifications
- The box 1 250 mm x 250 mm x 40 mm The box 2 180 mm x 120 mm x 40 mm
- Keywords
- chocolate, bonbon, packaging, illustration
