Innovative spice pack-and-dispenser won Billerud’s design competition PIDA France

The packaging concept “ReSpice” won both the competition's top prize – PIDA Gold Award – and the “Highest Level of Sustainability Award”.

The winning packaging project “RESPICE” responds perfectly to this year’s brief – to create a package that speaks to our senses. The motivation of the jury reads:

“Pida 2021 is an exceptional year! The quality of the projects are impressive. In all these exceptional projects, we found excellence with RESPICE. This packaging ticks almost all the boxes in our evaluation grid, which is why it is our big winner. It is the perfect balance between innovation, sustainability, conviviality and user-friendliness. The beauty of its design is the simplicity of the idea, with a top-of-the-art execution. However, it particularly stands out in the sustainability criteria because of its material-saving and reusability. Congratulations.”

Team RESPICE who won the PIDA Gold Award at the French PIDA event automatically qualifies for the Grand Finale. At the final – which takes place at the Luxe Pack trade show in Monaco on September 27 – an international winner will be appointed. This means that the French winner will be up against the winners of the three other semi-finals; students from USA/UK, Germany, and Sweden.

More students awarded

At the event, another three prizes were presented. The winner of the PIDA Gold Award “RESPICE” was awarded once again and received the “Highest Level of Sustainability Award” with the motivation:

“Re-Spice, Re-fill, Re-use, Re-cycle, and Re-duce the packing impact on the environment without any kind of compromise on the design. This is the kind of project we could easily imagine to be on the market shortly. Sustainability is clearly the core idea of RESPICE. It’s the proof you can do better with less.”

The “Highest Level of User Friendliness Award” went to the entry “Nuance de Paris” created by Laurine Melay, Sara Lerond, Cloé Lalanne, and Emma Taillefumier from ESI Reims, Reims. A packaging solution made for macarons, and the jury said:

The “Highest Level of User Friendliness Award” went to “Nuance de Paris”.

“The opening and closing of this packaging are so natural and easy we almost forget it’s made with cardboard. It’s really enjoyable to use and we only want to keep the box once all the macarons have been eaten!”

The “Highest Level of Innovation Award” was presented to Mallory Beben, Audrey Petremann, and Josselin Dupuis from IUT Reims, Reims for the entry “French Macaron”, again a packaging solution for macarons. The jury’s motivation read:

“We can only imagine the determination and the hard work behind such an idea. The twisting device and display function of this packaging are clever and astonishing. It shows how we can use the cartonboard to create motion, emotion and fun.”

The entry “French Macaron” won the “Highest Level of Innovation Award”.

The winners were selected by a jury of prominent industry professionals, who were very impressed by this year’s contestants.

“We were very impressed with the quality of the entries. It was no easy task to determine the winning team in each category,” says Fabrice Peltier, designer and author, chairman of the jury for PIDA France.

A creative arena for the packaging community

BillerudKorsnäs, the company behind PIDA, arranges the competition in cooperation with leading universities and design colleges in the USA, the UK, France, Germany, and Sweden. The competition gives the students an opportunity to work on a real packaging design project under the same conditions as an authentic assignment. What’s more, it is also a chance for the students to showcase their ideas and creativity to established professionals who attend the events every year to be inspired and meet the packaging designers of tomorrow.

“With PIDA, we want to drive the development of packaging design forward while also establishing a meeting place for the industry and the schools. This year marks the 16th anniversary of the competition and interest for PIDA grows steadily for every year – at the schools as well as in the packaging business,” says Anders Gathu, Marketing Manager BillerudKorsnäs.