Objective:
Conceptualization and production of New Year gift sets for the client's VIP partners
About project:
The Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) is the leading scientific center for the study of the polar regions of the Earth. For the New Year the Institute traditionally presents its high-ranking partners with handmade Christmas tree toys made of absorbent cotton. Last year we created for AARI toys in the form of Soviet images "Bear cub and polar explorer" and "Polar explorer and boy with the Soviet flag".
This year we were to continue the tradition by coming up with new images for the toys. Having delved into the archives of the Institute, we were inspired by the images of two famous Arctic and Antarctic explorers and made them the heroes of the New Year - 2024.
This is how the concept of two sets was born, which bear the names of books written by these scientists.
Set 1. "Island of Blizzards" - researcher G. A. Ushakov and a polar bear. It was on the island of polar bears ("Umkilir") that Georgy Alekseyevich Ushakov worked during the 1926-1929 expedition. He was the first Russian representative to manage and settle this territory. "Island of Blizzards" is a book that the scientist wrote about "Umkilir". For the basis of the symbolic embodiment of the famous explorer Ushakov took the figure of a polar explorer on skis. Distinctive features of the toy were mustache, beard and round glasses, in which Georgy Alekseevich is often represented in photographs. Ushakov was accompanied by a character who gave his name to the island of Umkilir (Wrangel Island) - a white bear in an ushanka hat with a red star.
Set 2. "On the domes of the earth" - M. M. Somov and a penguin. Mikhail Mikhailovich Somov led the first Soviet expedition to Antarctica (and then the eighth and ninth). The sea near Victoria Land is named after him. In 1950 - 1951 he headed the polar station "North Pole - 2", located on drifting ice. Mikhail Mikhailovich captured his memories of traveling and working at the two poles of our planet in his book "At the domes of the Earth". The toy representing him was a polar explorer in a black cap, in which Somov appears in one of his most famous photographs. A symbolic representative of Antarctica - a penguin - is placed in one box with the researcher.
The book covers are depicted on the postcards that accompany each set. The cards are nostalgic in the spirit of Soviet times and tell which of the famous explorers the toys embody.
The sets were packaged in individual kraft cardboard boxes with filler for safe transportation.
