Bespoke Packaging
Voges has plastic packaging solutions for any market and any possible application. You can choose from our range of standard solutions, or you can ask us to come up with a bespoke solution to meet your packaging needs. We have developed innovative packaging solutions for a wide range of clients.
Voges Gropak in Time Magazine
The Canadian packaging designer Agatha Jaworska approached us in 2008 with her innovative plan for plants to grow inside packaging whilst being transported. ‘Made in Transit’: when the products arrive at the supermarket they are fully grown and ready for consumption. It can hardly be any fresher than that. We developed the idea further together and came up with the Gropak. This collaboration was given 34th place in the Time Magazine Best Inventions of 2008.
The problem
How to transport fragile plants?
For her final thesis at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, Agatha Jaworska looked at a number of innovative solutions for food. She focused primarily on products with a limited shelf life, which often had high harvesting costs and which started deteriorating in quality whilst they were transported. Agatha came up with the brilliant plan to grow the plants whilst they are in transit, and to deliver them to the supermarket at exactly the right moment. But how can it be done?
Our solution
Gropak, Made in Transit
Voges took a close look at Agatha’s plan, along with her preferences and her requirements, and together with her we developed the Gropak. This packaging is made from sustainable PET material, or from biodegradable PLA material, and provides the ideal conditions for growing in transit. The Gropak mould has been designed to be easily adjusted to suit the requirements of the packaging’s contents. This means we can offer the right Gropak for any kind of plant.
The result
A new market for fresh special varieties
Mushroom growers said that our Gropak and the Made in Transit concept have now allowed them to supply more fragile varieties because they are now able to survive being transported. This has opened up a whole new global market. They only have to put the spores into the packaging and perfect mushrooms arrive at their destination. This marks a major shift in the world of packaging, away from “best before” and towards “ready on”, and it has not gone unnoticed. This invention brought Agatha Jaworska 34th place in the Time Magazine Best Inventions of 2008.
Related articles
34. Made-in-Transit Packaging TIME's Best Inventions of 2008
Design and the Elastic Mind The Museum of Modern Art
MIT; Supply chain concept for on the way growth Hyfoma.com
The Future of Fungal Freshness? Cornell University
Pot and Plant Combo for IKEA
IKEA cacti enjoy a great deal of interest. The only drawback: they are prickly, and difficult to combine with suitable ceramic pots. IKEA asked its supplier Edelcactus to think of a solution for the problem. Voges solved the problem. A carry pack, holding a cactus, complete with pot and soil all in one go, yet without being pricked by its spines.
The problem
Customers choose the wrong combination of pot and cactus
In the IKEA plant department you could pick up a cactus and a pot to go with it, but from time to time that went wrong. As well as the risk of being pricked by the cactus spines, people also often chose the wrong pot. And ultimately that led to a decline in customer satisfaction. Edelcactus BV, IKEA's cactus supplier, was asked to upgrade the existing product to a carrypack within the same look and feel.
Our solution
All-in-one carrypack
We decided to design the packaging again from scratch. This included every aspect of its appearance, functionality and its original prerequisites. We ended up with a solution that allowed customers to pick up a cactus in its packaging and try it for size in the range of pots located nearby. This is the ideal combination for customers, because the high-quality transparent material allows them to see exactly what they are buying and to choose the most suitable ceramic pot straight away.
The result
This combination has been a positive impulse for ceramics sales
The carrypack makes the same visual impression as the old packaging, preserving its identity and functionality, but with the difference that the cactus can be sold more easily with a pot that suits it. The costs were also kept down to a minimum by optimising the production process, and by offering the cactus and pot combination, IKEA uncovered a positive impulse for sales of ceramics. The consumer can now buy it all in one go and can carry the cactus home without being pricked by its spines.
Herb Packaging from NatureWorks PLA
Swangolt herbs are known for their high quality. Their packaging has to match this quality too, of course. Consumers demand more and more of packaging, and that is why the herb supplier Swangolt commissioned Voges to come up with a modern, sustainable solution. This not only resulted in higher quality, but also lower prices.
The problem
Improving the packaging
The packaging used by the German herb supplier Swangolt no longer performed up to the latest standards. It was clear what they needed: packaging that was better in several ways.
The solution
A comprehensive upgrade
For an upgrade like this the best idea is to start again from scratch. Voges worked towards the original prerequisites and looked at all aspects of visual appearance and functionality. They also took a close look at product engineering considerations to ensure optimum production efficiency. So the mould was made with a modular design to allow various different configurations to be easily applied within the main design. The mould also underwent advanced development to allow the use of PLA, a material that is notoriously difficult to handle. This was the starting point from which Voges developed a clamshell pack that offered improved ventilation, user-friendly euro hook and a substantially upgraded look and feel. By using sustainable PLA packaging, Swangolt has now gone on to be a market leader in modern herb packaging.
The result
A rise in quality and a fall in price
The product’s clear appearance and improved quality allowed Swangolt to more strongly position itself in the market and offer added value to its customers. Voges also optimised the mould to improve output and further reduce the price.
