Agency: VICENTE DESIGN
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Description:

Portuguese culture and old craftsmanship of wooden toothpicks are strongly combined and represented in this product’s design. The packing entered the “European Food Gift” contest by CIM-RC and won the “The best contemporary interpretation of traditional handicraft”.
Wooden toothpicks originated from Lorvão’s Monastery in the seventeenth century where nuns made their pastries for honorable guests they invited for the banquets. One day,  the abbess had the idea to sharpen laurel sticks to prevent guests from touching the pastries. Laurel did not turned out to be ideal for the toothpicks, so the nuns experimented with other types of wood.
Willow’s wood with an agreeable and sweet taste was the chosen one. The toothpicks were offered with the finest dishes, not only to help serving them but also for cleaning the guest’s teeth from the delicious scraps. This product was a prompt sucess and soon was offered as a gift to family members and other acquaintances.