Packaging the image of the happy rebel
Linn Beyerböck and Ellen Asp won the honorary prize at PIDA Sweden 2013. Their project was a picnic-friendly package for cookies, one that opened up to a complete ready-to-serve unit for coffee sessions in the park. Cute and clever.
Today, Linn and Ellen both work as packaging designers at cutting-edge food company Renée Voltaire. “We are a small and very open department,” says Ellen. “A combo of marketing and design, like an in-house agency.
We do have a design style to adhere to, but we also have creative freedom.”
Linn and Ellen design packaging with a distinct brand identity for inspiring, healthy and ecological food at Renée Voltaire. Among their designs you’ll find the Coco Water bottle. View more at www.reneevoltaire.se
GREEN AND INSPIRING FOOD
“The business has a clear focus on innovative food – in this case green, inspiring, healthy, and ecological food,” says Linn. “And the packaging has got to reflect this. The brand is like a happy rebel,” Linn continues. “We have our own production kitchen here,” says Ellen. “Sometimes the projects go very fast: we develop a product here in the kitchen, we decide how to market, design, package and display it, and it’s out there on the shelves in a matter of a week.”
I think the great value of PIDA, for us students, was the fact that it was all handed over to us. The responsibility, the chance to grow and develop. And for others, I just think the idea of cooperation and opportunities of contact is a good thing.
Looking back at PIDA, Linn and Ellen think it was a useful learning experience, and the first assignment they had with a flavour of authentic, serious work. “I liked the fact that it was a big job with many angles to consider,” says Linn. “I liked the brief and I liked the challenges. Some were difficult to handle. Such as estimates of production cost. Or technical issues. But we resolved them in the end.”
Winners of the PIDA honorary prize: Linn and Ellen designed FIKA, a smart and appealing kit for a coffee picnic.
A CHANCE TO GROW AND DEVELOP
“The best thing about the project was the feeling of pieces falling in place,” says Ellen. “The sense of achievement, that your contributions matter and that you take responsibility for the quality of the whole project together with the team.”
Since this piece was published, Ellen Asp is no longer with Renée Voltaire but has moved on to new challenges.