PARO

Founded by Glossier alum Umaimah Sharwani, Paro aims to spice up the mainstream American pantry with flavors of an underrepresented cuisine: South Asian comfort foods inspired by her Pakistani roots.

We built Paro from the ground up with the challenge to,  A) define how “Modern South Asian” looks and behaves across a brand experience, and B) to be exciting, attractive, and relevant to an unfamiliar yet curious American eater who might be meeting these types of products for the first time. Across cultural cuisines what remains consistent is the comfort you get from a mother’s cooking. Paro takes its authentic name from Umaimah’s mother.

Our north star for the brand identity and packaging, was to create the visual signature of ‘South Asian comfort’ in way that dodges loud CPG trends, to stand modern yet timeless. Our process of Cultural Foraging™ brought in design references across Pakistani calligraphy (as seen in the wordmark), textiles (as seen in the rich color), and vernacular of Pakistani food products where the uniting factor was a strong use of iconic color and shape. These codes are imbued to create a result that is flavorful, warm, authentically enduring, and unmistakingly distinct.

VISUAL IDENTITY, PACKAGING DESIGN & PRODUCTION,
CREATIVE DIRECTION & BRAND PHOTOGRAPHY