Luxury sustainable skincare brand ARgENTUM Apothecary delivers an enhanced consumer opening experience with high-impact presentation boxes developed in association with luxury packaging specialist Pusterla Pollards.
Established by Joy Isaacs in 2011, ARgENTUM harnesses the power of silver in its range of skincare products from natural origins that not only deliver ground-breaking science but are also true to the philosophy that beauty shines from within. As Joy points out, skin is the body’s largest organ and can reflect how we feel inside, not just physical health but state of mind, happiness and well-being. This is encapsulated in the company’s 12 BECOME 1 concept, harnessing the energies of all 12 archetypes to help each customer find balance within themselves and their skincare routine.
Joy explains: “My wish is that you enjoy every moment in discovering, unwrapping and applying your ARgENTUM. Please use this precious time to allow yourself to connect and find inner balance.”
Packaging plays a crucial role in this process, reflecting ARgENTUM’s strapline ‘where science meets poetry’. As well as creating a unique experience for the consumer, the new boxes needed to reflect ARgENTUM’s ethical values and the preservative-free nature of its products by being as sustainable as possible.
The boxes produced by Pollards are for ARgENTUM’s original range of skincare products. The company was looking to revise the packaging to be more in keeping with the book-style packs for its new fragrance collection, which feature a pop-up, to create an overall family image.
As the jars containing the products are not labelled to maintain their clean lines and luxury image, the outer packaging needed to establish the branding and create an aura of excitement and anticipation while providing essential product information and protection.
The technical format devised by Pollards, built on the original design created by ARgENTUM’s Creative Director, Sam Gray.
“Working with Pollards has been an absolute pleasure,” commented Sam. “The company fully understood our requirements and invested a lot of time in concepts and samples to ensure we got exactly what we wanted, maintaining the aesthetics and storytelling of my vision in a format that was also highly functional.”
The jacket style boxes feature high-impact imagery sleeves with a window that reveals the silver foiled ARgENTUM logo on the face of the jacket. A carton board tab opens the jacket, where foiled silver poetry on the left matches the science on the Element panel on the right, which is finely illustrated with a black and white visual of one of the four elements – fire, air, earth and water.
The panel also includes a pocket that holds one of the 12 archetype cards and a leaflet that, as well as containing product details, unlocks the experience further through individual Twitter, Pinterest and Spotify accounts aligned with the archetype card the customer received. Each archetype speaks in its own voice, is inspired by different visuals and listens to alternative music. The panel drops down to access the leaflet and at the same time reveal the product within.
As well as contributing to the reveal as part of the opening experience, the Element Panel provides an essential layer of protection for the product, further enhanced by an internal fitment in which the jar sits.
The flexibility of the box design also enables it to incorporate a drawer that contains accessories for some of the ARgENTUM products.
To meet sustainability requirements, the carton board tab for opening removes the need for a magnetic closure, while the inner fitment can be easily removed and is recyclable, as is the rest of the box. Equally important, removing the fitment enables the box to be kept and repurposed by the consumer. The box construction minimises the amount of glue required, and the printing uses only vegetable-based inks.
Pollards’ technical manufacturing skills ensured consistency across the different boxes to establish a family look for the collection and ensure the products were correctly positioned within. The Element panel was designed to remain upright but be easy to pull down to access the card and leaflet.
“Our boxes help to tell our story and reflect our quality, commitment and passion; customer feedback has been incredible,” concluded Sam. “From development to finished pack, the partnership with Pollards has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience.”
