The winners of the Young Designers Award 2019 have been officially announced. Students from Austria and Germany won the four top awards in the annual competition organised by Pro Carton, the European association of cartonboard manufacturers, to promote young talent in the packaging industry.
Together with six other finalists, the designers and their tutors were honoured at an awards gala evening in Malta on 19 September, where they also had the opportunity to network with executives from major European cartonboard manufacturers - a possible first step in their professional careers.
A total of 461 designs submitted, The entries came from 70 universities and design schools from 24 European countries. This year, prizes were awarded in four categories The awards were: „Save the planet“, „Creative cardboard packaging for food and drink“, „Creative cardboard packaging for all other products“ and „Creative ideas made from cardboard“.
And the award goes to ...
The coveted „Save the Planet“ award went to Alessia Businaro from Austria (pictured above). Her contribution Powder Stories was intended to solve the problem of eyeshadow palette packaging, which, according to the company, averages 20 grams of hard plastic for only 3 grams of product are used.
The judges felt that their innovative new solution „could have a huge impact on the industry“. This is because it could reduce the amount of plastic used - which, by the way, is only necessary so that the consumer can see the colour of the product - to a minimum.
Sonja Herr, Liane Jehle and Philipp Tretter from Germany won the prize for „Creative cardboard packaging for all other products“ with their entry La Paonneau, which amazed the jury members with its theatrical design.
The creative packaging for scissors offers a simple and Entertaining unpacking experience, which imitates the mechanism of a pair of scissors, whereby a beautiful peacock wheel unfolds.
The winner of the award for „Creative ideas from cardboard“, Mariella Drechsler from Austria, created the Dustbuster, which the judges described as „extremely original and creative“.
The DIY tool, which guarantees drilling without dusty dirt, can be used in a variety of applications thanks to a special adhesive coating can be used several times, and the dust can be removed thanks to the extraordinary folding technique Empty effortlessly.
The prize for „Creative cardboard packaging for food and drink“ was awarded to Martin Wunner, So Hyeon Kim and Nguyet Nguyen from Germany for their entry Ploffie, a distinctive type of packaging for nuts.
The packaging solution has a unique opening mechanism and an eye-catching design, which demonstrates the full potential of cartonboard.
When first opened, the perforated flap acts as a tamper-evident seal. The packaging can then be opened and closed by pressing the box with a „plop“. Once opened, the folding box serves as a clever dispenser that allows children and adults to easily and playfully pour out the nuts.
„We were very impressed by the high Quality of this year's entries. It shows that our next generation of designers really can think outside the box. 2019 will be hard to beat, but we'll be back with next year's awards in the autumn. Sustainability is the top priority for packaging. Cardboard is the most sustainable packaging material, Cartonboard is the future of packaging.“
Tony Hitchin, Managing Director of Pro Carton
As part of their prize, the winning young designers can look forward to a Trip to Sweden where they will gain valuable insights into two leading European folding carton companies: Stora Enso and AR Packaging. There they will learn about the entire product creation process, from the Scandinavian forests to the printing of the finished packaging.
Source: Pro Carton
