The chocolate factory
The Malmö Chocolate Factory, and its striped, brick chimney, is an icon of the southern Swedish city’s skyline. Built in 1888, the factory had been silent for many years when in 2015, two chocolate-loving brothers brought back the rich aroma of roasted cocoa beans to the surrounding streets. Ever since then, Malmö Chokladfabrik has been crafting organic, handmade, creative confections, packaged with a design that pays homage to the factory’s iconic striped chimney.
A Swedish icon
That design was created by Pond Design, a Stockholm-based forward thinking design agency that has been working with Malmö Chokladfabrik since it was revitalised a decade ago.
“We built the brand around the dream of owning a chocolate factory and the landmark building and its history,” says Johanna Augustin, CEO, Pond Design. “We have worked on many ranges with Malmö Chokladfabrik, all with the stripes from the chimney.”
Redefining premium
Malmö Chokladfabrik recently expanded into mainstream retail with its existing portfolio. So for its new range to be sold in luxury boutiques, Pond Design felt that a new design to strengthen the brand’s appeal and trustworthiness as high-end was vital.
An unboxing experience
“We wanted to redefine the new premium in chocolate,” says Augustin. “To stand out, we needed to stretch the premium expression to another dimension and add an experience—an exciting unboxing experience for all the senses. To achieve this, we wanted to build the brand’s stripes in a new way. We wanted them to be layered, to be tactile, to give depth to that unboxing experience. Touch and feel in packaging, when today so much of our lives is online, is so important for conveying luxury.”
Feels like a gift
Pond Design also decided to apply the layered stripes to an envelope style package. “An envelope makes you intrigued,” says Emma Hagberg, Copywriter, Pond Design. “You want to go in and discover what’s inside. It feels like a present, and that there's something very delicate and precious within.”
An envelope that tells a story
When you open the envelope up, there is also on the inside of the packaging, like a letter to the consumer, a story about the origins and creation of the chocolate. “The new premium is also about sharing knowledge, inviting consumers into your journey, your process, your passion,” says Augustin. “Inspiring people to discover and to learn more.”
The perfect choice
To turn the unique design into an actual package, Malmö Chokladfabrik and Pond Design collaborated with Nordic Carton. Located just 1km down the road from the chocolate factory, Nordic Carton has also been working with the chocolate artisans for many years.
The flexibility of Invercote Creato
“We thought the new design was great,” says Per-Oscar Nilsson, Sales Manager, Nordic Carton. “To make it in the best way possible we decided to use Invercote Creato. This was the perfect choice of paperboard. It is a very flexible and soft material so we could fold it into the envelope shape. It is also very thin, but strong enough to still protect the chocolate. And it ensures great print results on both sides, which was essential for the various effects and varnishes required to create the tactile feeling with the stripes. The surface of the carton board needs to be 100 per cent perfect and Invercote Creato is top of the line.”
Tactility through varnishes
Those tactile stripes were created through alternating matt and glossy varnishes. “It gives you a kind of 3D effect on the box,” says Nilsson. “Invercote Creato takes these varnishes perfectly, as well as the gold foil. And because of the story being told on the inside of the packaging, the double-sided printability of the material was essential.”
Intense, bold and vibrant
Gold has been integral to the Malmö Chokladfabrik brand for a long time. “It's another way to really convey the exclusivity of the premium chocolate inside,” says Augustin. “We also wanted contemporary hues, to create a new joyful vibe on the chocolate shelf. So we worked with very intense, bold, vibrant and warm colours that you don’t see together very often. Invercote Creato enabled us to work with all these different colours and gloss and matt varnishes on a very detailed level. This was also essential, because when it comes to premium packaging, it’s all in the detail. It's a very important part of the experience.”
Increasing the value
Sustainability is important to all three companies. And as well as being made from fresh wood fibres, Invercote Creato, with its flexible creasability, meant the new packaging could be made from single sheets and with no need for glue.
“From a sustainability perspective, we did not want to overpack, we wanted to optimise the materials needed,” says Augustin. “We wanted it to be lean. And Invercote Creato, which enabled packaging that was thick enough to protect the chocolate, while being as thin as possible and requiring no glue in the creation of the envelope, was the optimal solution.”
Award winning luxury packaging
The new Malmö Chokladfabrik packaging has gained worldwide attention. It won first prize in the Luxury Packaging category at the Packnorth Award 2024, and it was awarded a bronze medal in the Food category at the Pentawards 2024 in London. “I think it came out really nice,” says Augustin. “And the attention it’s had show’s that we managed to do something new in a very saturated category.”
“We are super happy with it,” says Nilsson. “So much so that we are using it as a Nordic Carton giveaway. It's a small gift, but it feels like a lot. And it shows how packaging can really increase the value of a product. The chocolate is fantastic. But with this unique packaging, it's a completely different product.”
