Orco Senape

ORCO was founded in 1911 in Varese, in a small Liberty-style building that still houses the company today. Established by Swiss entrepreneur Federico Thomy under the name S.A. Helvetia – Varese, the business initially focused on producing coffee substitutes such as roasted chicory. This was a response to the difficulty of sourcing coffee in Italy, particularly during the early decades of the 20th century, when import restrictions and the rise of Fascist autarkic policies promoted self-sufficiency and the use of domestic alternatives. It reflects a historical moment when industrial ingenuity and adaptability were essential.

With the opening of colonial trade routes and the direct importation of coffee from former Italian colonies, substitutes began to lose relevance. In response, the company shifted its focus from coffee to the production of sauces and condiments. In 1924, the first department dedicated to mustard was established, based on a traditional cold-processing method using a stone mill: two large granite wheels rotating on top of each other slowly grind the ingredients. This slow, artisanal method yields a paste with a strong flavor and dense consistency and remains one of ORCO’s distinctive production features to this day. 

Alongside production innovation, the company also developed a strong visual communication  in the 1920s by collaborating with the renowned poster artist Achille Luciano Mauzan. Active in Italy, Mauzan worked with Officine Grafiche Ricordi and with MAGA – advertising agency founded by Giuseppe Magagnoli, two key players in the publishing and advertising world of the time. His theatrical and colorful style, often tinged with irony, is emblematic of 1920s graphic art.

For ORCO, Mauzan created the poster of the “Orco Mangiabene” (“the Good-Eating Ogre”), a caricatured, ravenous character who embodies the indulgence and flavor of the product. The poster also features an elegant mustard jar. According to company legend, Mauzan was inspired by a perfume bottle design created by Gabriele D’Annunzio. The original sketches of these flacons are still preserved in the ORCO archives.

That design would later take physical form thanks to a collaboration with the Zignago glassworks, which handled its industrial production in special glass. This jar, nicknamed the “barilotto”, became a hallmark of ORCO’s packaging—visually distinctive and still in use today.

In the 1950s, the company took another major step in its industrial journey by launching the production of the first industrial mayonnaise in Italy. This was a significant innovation, bringing what had previously been a homemade product into the realm of large-scale distribution. In the decades that followed, the product range expanded to include new sauces, single-serving portions, and tube packaging, consolidating the brand’s presence in the food market.

As for visual identity, the orco character drawn by Mauzan has undergone various transformations over the years, adapting to evolving graphic and communication needs. The most recent revision took place about ten years ago, carried out by the Milan-based agency RBA Design. The restyling involved updating the typography, keeping the red color, introducing the phrase “Dal 1911” (“Since 1911”), and, most notably, redesigning the character. The new orco was reinterpreted by Franco Testa, who distilled the original essence of the character: the sardonic grin remains, but the sharp teeth—once a sign of menace—have been softened. The result is a more accessible graphic mark that preserves the communicative power of the original while aligning with contemporary visual language.

The visual universe crafted by Mauzan remains a central pillar of ORCO’s brand identity. The poster, the barilotto, and the orco character together represent one of the most compelling examples of the dialogue between graphic art and the food industry in 20th-century Italy.