Services – Tooling Design, Pulp Packaging, Production
Location – London, UK
Producing production-grade packaging mock-ups for one-off units or small batches presents significant challenges. Unlike mass production, where economies of scale allow for optimised processes, creating high-quality prototypes involves complex, manual adjustments.
Achieving the exact finish, structural integrity, and aesthetics expected in full-scale production can be difficult when only a few units are needed. This becomes even more complicated with pulp paper packaging, known for its unique texture and sustainable properties. The irregular nature of pulp and the precision required to mould it into specific shapes pose added difficulties, especially when trying to maintain consistency in small-batch prototypes.
Studio Sowow has developed innovative methods to replicate the intricate processes of pulp production, overcoming many of these technical challenges. By refining our moulding techniques and using precise tools, we have been able to produce pulp prototypes that achieve 80% of the quality and accuracy of mass-manufactured versions.
This remarkable level of precision allows our clients to visualise their final packaging with near-production-level fidelity, ensuring that the prototypes are not only visually representative but also functionally sound. Our expertise bridges the gap between handmade prototypes and large-scale manufacturing standards.
For one particularly challenging project, we applied our advanced pulp prototype techniques to bring a complex design to life for our client. The packaging featured a deep interior cavity combined with an ultra-thin lid, both of which presented significant engineering hurdles.
Maintaining the structural integrity of the deep packaging without sacrificing the delicate profile of the lid required careful material manipulation and custom tooling. Studio Sowow successfully overcame these challenges, delivering a pulp prototype that faithfully captured the client’s vision while ensuring that the design remained both functional and aesthetically pleasing.
