Why I’m proud to announce my new packaging
Updated: Jul 1, 2022
and why it took so long to get right.
*UPDATE: in my haste to share the news, I didn't check over every new box before making this post. Whoops! My supplier has accidentally sent the wrong foam inserts for 80% of my boxes. Read on to see how I'm dealing with it.*
I spent more than half a year refreshing my packaging, and it is finally here!
The process was slow going, and it took me months. Months of research, asking anyone I could think of for leads, sending annoying emails asking for eco-credentials, asking for quotes and putting my calculator to good use. I desperately wanted to order from an Australian company, and it took months of dead ends before looking internationally for packaging that ticks my sustainability and affordability requirements.
The timeframe also included many hours creating hand illustrations before digitising the images and brushing up on my Adobe Illustrator skills to create a repeat pattern I could use on the wrapping paper.
And finally, there were weeks of waiting for the tests to arrive before finally committing to a big order and waiting another month for it to come through.
But now, it's here!
Read on if you want to nerd out on my new sustainable jewellery boxes and tissue paper.
The boxes:
The boxes are from Westpack, a Danish company that makes jewellery boxes. These ones were made in their on-site factory.
They are made from FSC®-certified paper and organic corn production by-products. This by-product replaces as much as 15% of the wood pulp. The boxes are 100% plastic-free; even the glue is eco-friendly. They are reusable and are fully compostable and recyclable.
The foam inserts I ordered are not made from plastic either but constructed from Tall oil, a by-product derived from pinewood (from paper production). The foam inserts are made without unwanted chemicals and are tarnish tested so that jewellery remains sparkly when stored.
UPDATE: 80% of the foam inserts I received are not part of my stockist's sustainable collection and contain plastic. When I reached out to Westpack, they dealt with it well. They responded quickly and apologised, offering to send me the sustainable foam I ordered. After much thought, I've decided to keep the non-sustainable foam. It would be more wasteful to produce more product and ship it from Denmark to Australia.
To help fight plastic pollution, I've decided to donate 50 cents for every non-sustainable box insert to the Australian Marine Conservation Plastic Pollution campaign.
The tissue:
I hand illustrated some shells and coral before turning them into a digital pattern to be used on the tissue paper.
Made by the company NoIssue, my new tissue paper is printed with earth-friendly dyes, constructed from 30% recycled materials and 70% new, acid-free virgin pulp. It is fully compostable and recyclable.
Thank you to all my customers and stockists who have persevered with this crazy timeline that just kept getting pushed out as I hit new roadblocks. And thank you to the friend who told me about Westpack! It's finally here, and I can't wait to wrap your jewellery in my beautiful packaging.