Packaging
PIDA Sweden winner aims for the stars
Friday 24. October 2008 - Think unusual shapes, think luxury and think cartonboard.
That was the challenge in this years edition of the Packaging Impact Design Award (PIDA). Korsnäs competition for design students in Sweden, France and Germany is now under way, with the Swedish competition wrapping up at the end of May. Under glorious blue skies, students and businesspeople met at Korsnäs in Frövi for a full day of packaging design activities. The competition entries were of very high quality and Maria Hjerppe from Mälardalens Högskola took home first prize – a trip to Barcelona – with her DVD box for the Space Wars trilogy.
During the day, participants heard from this years main attraction, Lars Wallentin, packaging guru and former creative director at Nestlé in Switzerland. Do it big or stay in bed and Simplify and amplify are just two bits of advice he shared while spellbinding the audience for an hour and a half on the subject of Packaging: A to Z. I thought packaging was interesting before Lars Wallentins talk, but now I truly understand how many undiscovered opportunities there are in packaging design, said Sara Zetterberg, one of the student contestants. Now Im really fired up.
Mackmyra on hand – sorry, no tasting
The day also included something of a world premiere. Just a few days after the event, the worlds first Swedish-produced Scotch whisky – Mackmyra – was released. Rikard Lundborg of Mackmyra provided insight into how the project began and Nicklas Bentsson of Eson Pack, who produced the box using Korsnäs White, talked about everything that went into the final packaging design. Unfortunately, Korsnäs alcohol policy did not permit a tasting, but Mälarchocolaterie was on hand with samples of handmade chocolate, also packaged using Korsnäs White. Amongst the pralines a whisky chocolate had succeeded in making it past the censors.
After a panel debate on the theme of cost-efficient packaging moderated by editor-in-chief Bo Wallteg of Nord Emballage Magazine and packnyheter.se, it was time for the awards ceremony.
Anything but square
The jury had its work cut out for it choosing among the 29 entries, but ended up unanimously selecting as the first-prize winner a brilliant DVD pack shaped like the Millennium Falcon, the huge space ship in Space Wars. A versatile pack offering remarkable freedom of choice, depending on how you stamp out the board. This packaging makes innovative use of the properties of Korsnäs White with a design that could be commercial reality tomorrow. A pack you will be seeing in the shops, wrote the jury. When I heard the theme was “Anything but square”, I immediately thought of DVD boxes, says Maria Hjerppe. They are always square and usually made of plastic. Maria is looking forward to her trip to Barcelona, where she will visit the citys leading school of applied art and design, the Escola Massana, which has been arranging design competitions in cooperation with Korsnäs for many years. In October, along with the winners of PIDA France, she will take part in Easy Fairs in Stockholm, which will feature a display of entries from this years competition.
Captions (all pictures are available in high-definition for free on Kornäs’ Virtual Exhibit / Image Gallery):
The audience enjoyed a whole day of packaging design activities and contributed with its opinions on various questions using mentometer buttons. (17)
I thought packaging was interesting before Lars Wallentins talk, but now I truly understand how many undiscovered opportunities there are in packaging design. Now Im really fired up, said Sara Zetterberg, here with this years winner Maria Hjerppe and last years winners Mikael Andersson and Axel Svensson, all from Mälardalens Högskola. (30)
Maria Hjerppe is looking forward to a trip to Barcelona and a visit to the Escola Massana. (33)
First Prize: Millennium Falcon, Maria Hjerppe – Mälardalens Högskola (10)
Second Prize: Rum bottle, Anna-Lena Jansson – Broby Grafiska. A daring solution that is a good example of how two different materials can be combined, wrote the jury. The packaging makes good use of the properties of Frövi White, both protecting and displaying the bottle, and it is easy to produce, too. (27)
Third Prize: Sunne Survival Kit, Jonas Björlevik, Christian Andersson, Martin Winqvist and Håkan Gåård – Broby Grafiska. A charming concept with a generous dose of humour. The shape suggests a waist pack. (22)
Honourable mention:
Hardware: Linda Håkansson, Helen Tjus, My Johansson and Nils Granberg – Broby Grafiska. Jewellery pack with pop-up function and magnetic closure with an austere exterior contrasting with a romantic interior. An interesting pack with outstanding documentation, wrote the jury. (23)
Sweetberry Tree: Anna Larsson, Fredrik Nilsson, Rickard Berggren and Mikael Niit – Broby Grafiska. Sweets in creative packaging. A pack that would be technically impossible to produce yet shows a great deal of innovative imagination, according the jury. (1)
Hang-up: Mikael Lundén, Jenny Lindahl and Martin Liljesand – Nackademin. A pack that doubles as a hanger. The jury got hung up on this entry. Its fresh, innovative, inspiring packaging that would be possible to produce, they wrote.