Fascinating packaging

Seventeen young ladies aged around 15 years and attending the Maria Ward School in Nuremberg are producing office supplies made from packaging. And they are doing this on the school premises.

Recycling Style
Cutting, glueing, stitching and hole-punching have replaced cooking in the school kitchen for an hourly wage of 42 cents. After all, at the moment it is the idea and not the money that CB Creations is focusing on. The material used is misprinted beverage packaging bearing apple, orange and banana drink designs provided by SIG Combibloc. It is being turned into novel file covers, folders and pencil cases. The idea with the firm of school pupils is a junior project of the Deutsche Wirtschaft Kцln (Institute of German Commerce and Industry Cologne) in cooperation with the Bildungswerk der Bayerischen Wirtschaft (Education Workshop of Bavarian Commerce and Industry). The aim of the project is to help young people recognise economic interrelationships, to promote teamwork and allow them to show their own initiative and independence. These are aspects that make CB Creations stand out: the pupils participated in the “Best Junior Company in Bavaria 2004” competition on May 12th, 2004 and won fourth place.

Accessoires Design
A further example of using carton packaging in a creative way is the asoir company, run by four young entrepreneurs from the Baden region of Switzerland. They produce and market purses and wallets made from SIG Combibloc beverage packaging. The large-scale distributor Migros has given asoir permission to produce and sell their products bearing the Migros budget design, which has already achieved cult status in Switzerland. The company is also proving its good sense of style in other areas, too. The purses and wallets are being produced in the arwo workshop for handicapped persons. Their decision to do so was based on social and not commercial reasons. Though that is not stopping the young entrepreneurs, together with their two business partners, from pursuing their visions. The aim is to make customised products that potential buyers can put together themselves online. The products from these two creative companies can be ordered directly on their respective homepages. The links are provided in the online magazine.