Pro Carton Young Designers Award: jubilant young stars

The Pro Carton Young Designers Award for students' creativity in cartonboard packaging surpassed all expectations this time round.  One reason for this was the new public voting prize, which attracted a large number of new participants.  On 15th September 2016 the prizes were presented to the winners in festive surroundings at the ECMA Congress in Cannes – to an audience of leading personalities from the European cartonboard and carton industry.   For 14 years now this award has hugely successfully supported creativity in the field of cartons.  This year, once again, two prizes and four nominations were awarded. Pro Carton invited all finalists together with their lecturers to the festive gala and congress party. New this time round was the award of a public voting prize on the www.procarton.com website, which attracted considerable attention under #pcyda16 in social media and notched up 13.385 votes. Selecting so few winners among so many entries was by no means easy for the jury. Prize winner Isabel Tabarini  ("I Have Nuts") was jubilant: "For me, the Pro Carton Young Designers Award is an important event as it allows me to present an idea via an international network which welcomes innovation." The judges - from all sections of the Supply Chain - were fascinated by the diversity of entries: Satkar Gidda (SiebertHead, chairman of the jury) covered the design aspects, Wilfried Duivenvoorden (Unilever) from the perspective of brands. Lotte Krekels (Carrefour) added insights from the retail trade, Magdalena Michalska (Multi Packaging Solutions) represented the carton industry, Peter Strahlendorf ("New Business" publisher) represented the market and consumers. Peter Klein Sprokkelhorst acted as consultant to the jury with regard to the submitted concepts’ technical finesse. Chairman of the jury, Satkar Gidda: "This is a much anticipated design competition simply because of the amazing innovative ideas and clever thinking that we have witnessed in the past. It was evident this year that some entries were clearly a class project given the number of entries all created for a specific subject or category. That itself revealed the very different thinking of each student as to how to tackle the project from a different angle. What is fascinating to see are absolutely new uses for carton board that we had not witnessed before. It is quite amazing what you can do with carton board through free thinking. " The prize for both winners: a special one-week training in the areas of packaging design, marketing, sales and retail at Multi Packaging Solutions. The certificates and trophies were presented by Pro Carton President Roland Rex. All finalists also received a certificate.   CREATIVE CARTONBOARD PACKAGING WINNER I Have Nuts®: Isabel Laugerud Tabarini Isabel Laugerud Tabarini: "Normally you have a high calorie bar before training and then a high protein bar shortly after you have finished. I thought about one single package that could provide me with both. The biggest challenge during the development of the structural design of the package was to achieve the greatest simplicity, not only in terms of design but also with regard to the manufacture process of a single pack with dual (yet independent) compartments. The Pro Carton Young Designers Award allows me to create and share this idea through an international network that welcomes innovation."   CREATIVE CARTONBOARD IDEAS WINNER Off The Hook: Sarah Strobl Sarah Strobl:  "The real value of the Award lies in showing me that I am capable of designing ideas that are appreciated outside my usual environment. I truly enjoyed working on this project, it was simply wonderful to be able to try something new. Both the Award and my project give me the feeling that I have already come one step closer to the designer I want to become and for that I am really grateful."   PUBLIC VOTING WINNER Paper Bow Tie: Franz Mühringer Franz Mühringer: „The idea was to create a bow tie out of a single piece of carton which fits onto an A4 sheet with no sticking necessary. The product should be an invitation to the next Pro Carton event. In addition it could be sold as an accessory or to advertise shirts in a store.”     FINALISTS Herbal Corner: Stephanie Vetter Stephanie Vetter: "I really liked the idea of snapping the cartonboard-packaging open to reveal the inside. I also liked the idea of growing plants straight out of the packaging. After that, one thing led to another and the "herbal corner" was born. I think it's a fantastic experience being able to take part in the Pro Carton Young Designers Award, and to learn so much from this whole event. Given the fact that I have just graduated, it really makes starting my career a lot easier."   Good seed makes a good life! Magdalena Witkowicz Magdalena Witkowicz: "The first challenge was to create a shape for the pack that would express the appropriate emotions and associations. The dosage system also proved to be a big challenge – with a surface wide enough to dose the seeds conveniently and without tearing the carton. The Pro Carton Young Designers Award is a great opportunity to meet important people from all over Europe in the Packaging and Carton industry. I would love to work in the packaging industry."   Innobox – The Innovative Shoebox: Julia Kauer, Gerfried Pietsch, Sebastian Schober, Adrian Strobl Adrian Strobl:  "The biggest challenge was to create the push-down opening mechanism using nothing but cartonboard. We wanted to build a stunning and high quality product, yet keep the construction simple and use resources efficiently. The next challenge will be to bring innobox to the market. And the Pro Carton Young Designers Award 2016 will help us to spread the word and meet specialists from across the industry."   KAKAWA – Hot Chocolate: Sabine Hojdar Sabine Hojdar: "I had a lot of fun and it was a good opportunity to expand my skills as well. I´m impressed by the commitment that Pro Carton shows for ecological and sustainable packaging production. So, I feel very honoured that my design received an award from such an important jury. In addition to that it was a very exciting experience to be given the opportunity of presenting my packaging idea and it reassured me that I´m on the right career path."   What the lecturers had to say:: Agnieszka Andruszkiewicz, Lecturer at The Higher School of Art and Design in Łódź "My intention in the teaching process is primarily to change the perception of paper and packaging. I would like to show that paper packaging can have a lot of different shapes and does not have to look like the ordinary packs we know from the shop shelf. What excites me is a smart construction that can give special properties such as great material strength or cushioning  that absorbs shocks. Moreover, I would like to teach my students how to use the special properties of paper for a particular purpose, for example thermal properties to protect cold contents. In my opinion, paper has great potential and can be used for so many different wonderful purposes." Giovanni Corsaro, Higher Graphic Teaching and Research Institute, Vienna   "I regard the Pro Carton Award as being very valuable in today's digital world to keep upcoming designers in tune with the form, language and tactility of analogue media. Today's packaging design must do more than simply provide nice packaging, it must have an added value or create a new product which is unique, innovative and sustainable for consumers. I am firmly convinced that in a few years, Pro Carton will not only represent packaging in its classical form, but will also see industrial design and architecture playing a greater role." Susanne Lippitsch, lecturer at the Joanneum, Graz, and the Advertising-Design-Academy, Salzburg "The Award enables young creative designers to present their ideas publicly as well as making important contacts in the industry as part of the award event.  The publicity in the press with regard to the award is extremely valuable and, as in my case – I was a winner in 2002 myself – herald the start to a professional career."   Please share, "like"  and comment on finalists and winners at www.procarton.com – print-ready images, extensive information and videos are also available there.   The new competition starts in a few weeks, at the beginning of 2017. Registration is already open. The deadline for entries will be 25 May 2017. Comprehensive information with print-ready images and videos are available at www.procarton.com