Duncan Anderson has won the 1st prize in the Stora Enso Recreate Packaging 2016 design competition, students’ category. In the professional designers’ category, the winner of the 1st prize is Micaela Nilsson from the Swedish company Gafs Kartong. The award-winning designs are displayed on the Recreate Packaging website www.recreatepackaging.com.
The Stora Enso Recreate Packaging competition was arranged for the third time and it was more popular than ever. There were 157 entries in total, all focused on making the most of the tactile properties of paperboard in luxury packaging. The first prize was EUR 5 000 both in the student and the professional categories. The jury was unanimous in terms of which designs really had the wow factor.
“We were delighted to see so many new ideas in how to use paperboard for luxurious packaging of champagne, chocolate and perfume. The designers had truly found the tactile properties of our renewable packaging materials that can create a unique consumer experience,” says Jari Latvanen, Jury Chairman and Head of Stora Enso Consumer Board Division.
Jury comments
The Recreate Packaging 2016 jury comments on Duncan Anderson’s perfume packaging conceptChrysalis: “The main task of the cosmetics business is to frame the cosmetics. Usually, the box of the perfume hides the shape of the perfume bottle – which is a shame. In the winning entry, the shape of the bottle is visible through the packaging. Performa Brilliance by Stora Enso is an excellent material choice for this package. The presentation of the packaging is beautiful, giving off an organic perception of the concept. Such an innovative carton design is new in terms of perfume packaging – it is beautiful, tactile and original, and the excellent presentation and mock-ups show unusual skill and creativity.”
Micaela Nilsson’s packaging for Pivert Champagne was the obvious winner for every jury member: “This is a clear and strong winner. Extremely strong design with the bubble effect and you can see the light effects. Innovative use of the technical function and esthetical aspect, utilizing the versatility of the CKB board. The design offers many opportunities for customisation of other themes and colours. It’s so simple but gives lots of value.”
Other prize winners
The 2nd prize in the student category of Recreate Packaging 2016 was given to The French Chocolate Tripby Georges Diant, from the French design school Strate, and the 3rd prize went to Perfume packaging byKarolina Lademann from Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, Poland. In the professional category, the 2ndprize was granted to ChocBook by Uwe Melichar from Factor and Andra Teibaha and Girts Strumpmanis from Brandbox (Germany/Latvia). Trianguli by Johan Berglund and Magdalena Piehl from Studio Piehl (Sweden) received the 3rd prize. The jury also decided to give a honorary mention to Martin Sombathy (Canada) for his Alpine milk chocolate box. The winner of the Public Choice Award was an elegant chocolate box called Bermuda, designed by students Tuan Dao Mahn and Khan Lam from Beuth University (Germany).
The awards were granted by Stora Enso at The Knickerbocker Hotel in New York 11 May. The prizes were awarded by the designer Bea Szenfeld, who is known for her pieces of fashion made of paper and was a member of the Recreate Packaging 2016 jury.
Interview of Duncan Anderson, student category winner
Duncan Anderson has studied Packaging & Branding Design at the Lahti Institute of Design, Finland. He told us the story of his award-winning design, Chrysalis:
“I visited a butterfly sanctuary last summer where I first saw a chrysalis and thought it would be interesting to use it as the basis for a project as it’s a great example of packaging found in nature. It seemed to fit well to the Recreate Packaging 2016 brief, the idea of this beautiful shell protecting this elegant product inside and the use of nature in renewable packaging. I thought the name was quite fitting to perfume as well.
Paperboard materials are something that I have always loved working with ever since I was a child, starting with this flat piece of material and figuring out new possibilities is a bit like being an explorer. I like that paper is an ancient material but we can still find innovative ways to keep developing and using it, for me it feels like it has a lot of depth, warmth and versatility.
I tried out quite a few different shapes and opening mechanisms before deciding on the final concept so it took a lot of time and late nights but it was important to find the right answer I was looking for. I think the main key aspect to be successful in a competition is to be really clear about the brief and judging requirements but also to keep referring back to it throughout the process as our minds have a tendency to wander. During the process I always make a lot of mockups to develop ideas and to fine tune then create the final ones to the highest standard I can. Then when presenting the work I think it’s important to be really clear about the points that you need to get across, the mockup should in many ways speak for itself so it’s important to cut out any superfluous information and stick to key points.”
Interview of Micaela Nilsson, professional category winner
Micaela Nilsson works as a structural designer for Gafs Kartong, in Sweden. The team wanted to highlight the latest laser technology in package manufacturing:
“Gafs Kartong has always been at the forefront when it comes to new technology and has recently invested in Highcon, a digital cutting and creasing machine which uses laser technology. This was something we wanted to highlight in our contribution to the Recreate Packaging 2016 competition.
We wanted to create a packaging design for champagne that incorporated the sophistication and luxury of drinking champagne. Since we wanted to highlight the laser technology in the packaging, we started out with a simple and square structural packaging design. The outer packaging was transformed into a beautiful scenery of champagne bubbles, as if the packaging itself was a glass of champagne, with small bubbles in the bottom and bigger and more frequent ones in the top. By doing so, the packaging itself spoke of the content only by the visual appearance of the structural design.
For the protective function we used biomimicry, i.e. borrowing a function from the animal kingdom. An interior was designed so that the bottle would be placed in mid-air, never in contact with the outer packaging’s bottom or walls. The function is similar to the physiology of the woodpecker, from which the packaging has gotten its name; “Pivert” is French for a bird within the family of woodpeckers. For the finish, the name was delicately cut-out on a sleeve with the brown side of the material, Stora Enso’s CKB. To keep the branding from interfering with the bubbles, the sleeve was designed with an intact backside. This completed the luxurious feeling of layer-on-layer and simplicity that was key words in the making of Pivert Champagne.
The finished packaging was at last produced in the digital die cutter Highcon, using laser technology to get the final finish. I loved working with CKB, it is a great material with many fields of application. It gave the packaging the much needed strength capabilities to function as a luxurious champagne packaging and thanks to the two sides of different colour, it also gave the design the dynamic needed to make it work without adding any graphical print.”
The jury of Recreate Packaging 2016
The Recreate Packaging 2016 competition was judged by an expert jury including representatives from perfume, champagne and chocolate brands, renowned designers and Stora Enso:
- Stéphane Lefondeur, Packaging Development and Procurement Manager, Martell Mumm Perrier Jouët
- Franz Liebenspacher, Senior Expert Packaging, Nestlé
- Fabrice Peltier, Packaging Designer
- Bea Szenfeld, Fashion Designer
- Marion Trossat, Head of Purchasing and Packaging Development Department, Interparfums
- Jari Latvanen, Executive Vice President, Head of Stora Enso Consumer Board Division (jury chairman)
Download images from http://bmt.storaenso.com/l/XGhhQJfhfJWM.
For further information
Sanna Heiskanen, Marketing Communications Manager, Stora Enso Consumer Board
