This year’s season’s greetings card from Iggesund Paperboard takes the form of a pop-up shadow box, using fine laser die-cutting details and silver ink to create a mystical forest effect.
It has been created using Invercote Creato 350g/sqm and produced using HP Indigo digital printing with silver ink, conventional cutting and laser cutting of fine details. This last step involved Highcon’s laser-based digital cutting technology. The card was manually assembled. Printing and assembly took place at Digaloo in Stockholm, Sweden, with die-cutting handled by Condor Kartong, also located in Stockholm, Sweden. Highcon laser cutting was carried out by Gafs Kartong in Värnamo, Sweden. Watch a video detailing the project below.
Using the recipient’s mobile phone, the card comes comes alive through a lightshow that mimics the magical illumination of the aurora borealis.
The theme of the card, ‘Shine a light on the forest’, relates to the origin of Iggesund’s flagship product Invercote, as well as the important role that sustainable forestry and fibre-based products can play in mitigating climate change. The concept was designed and created by Erik Hluchlan and Erin Fudge Smith at Structural Graphics, a print marketing agency with more than 40 years of experience when it comes to innovative packaging and print options.
Iggesund’s Invercote Creato is a paperboard designed for both packaging and graphical applications. Both sides are coated with a silk finish and have excellent printing properties, as well as being able to handle a large number of printing and converting steps.
This year’s technically complicated greetings card placed a number of demands on the paperboard: It had to be opaque and have good foldability, while remaining rigid enough to maintain the form. The material also needed to offer a higher quality of printability.
Mr Hluchan said, ‘It is an excellent paper to work with when making pop-ups and it has the ability to withstand the high demands of dimensional paper engineering. It is also able to handle a large number of print treatments including laser cutting.
‘Given the environmental theme of the project, a forest seemed obvious for a paperboard company. Iggesund by necessity needs to be a caretaker of forests.’
Iggesund’s annual season’s greetings card has become a challenge for designers to out-do the previous year’s card by showcasing the countless possibilities of the company’s paperboards, Invercote and Incada.
Jessica Tommila, customer experience manager at Iggesund Paperboard, commented, ‘Every year we wish the card to be eye-catching enough to earn its place on the recipient’s desk, or even on the mantelpiece at home. With this year’s card we also want to encourage people to put their phones away for a while. We also want to show how much we value the long-lasting relationships we have with our customers and other friends in the packaging business.’
