Toward the end of each year, as the leaves start falling, we put our imaginary elf hats on and get together to brainstorm the perfect holiday gift. This yearly holiday tradition fills us with joy as we sample sweet treats, experiment with new materials, and give our creativity free reign.
It all starts with the gift. Lucky for us, we have customers who are confectioners, tea, soap, and candle makers. It’s always difficult to choose only one outstanding company to highlight. This year we teamed up with our friends at Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate, a family run artisan chocolatier headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.
In Celtic mythology the holly tree symbolizes peace and goodwill. With that in mind, we designed a custom twist-top folding carton with a holly-leaf closure to create a gift-wrap-like structure for the delicious 7pc chocolate truffle set. The Holly Leaves are brought to life with a fine detailed hot foil pattern and the carton is ornamented with a blind emboss pattern of spirited Christmas icons.
For the material, we looked for something earthy and sustainable. Earlier this year, we were introduced to a new line of specialty papers from one of our paperboard suppliers, Mohawk, called “Renewal”. According to Mohawk, “Mohawk Renewal was born out of a desire to redefine the contours of how we source fiber and expand the existing definition of sustainable papermaking. By rediscovering old fiber sources like hemp, straw and cotton rag, we uncovered a new path forward. You might say we looked to the past to discover the future”. The fibers Mohawk has chosen for its new line are all annual crops, which regenerate in a year or less. By using scraps that would've otherwise been disposed of, they are not only reducing waste but also reducing pollution.
We love the sustainability story behind Mohawk Renewal and knew right away that we had to use one of their beautiful, earthy, uncoated alternative fiber substrates for our holiday box. We chose Mohawk Renewal Hemp Flower 120#C (17.5pt) with a smooth finish and agreed that a gold and red beautiful hot foil stamp and a spirited holiday embossing pattern would be all that is needed to complete our vision. Hot stamping foils from KURZ were matched to create contrast and shine. Many of our customers look to Tap’s design center to help them identify new and even greener paperboard substrates. So, let’s take a deeper look at each of Mohawks alternative fibers:
Hemp, unlike trees, grows rapidly, maturing as quickly as 90 days. Turning hemp into pulp requires less chemicals, water, and energy than wood.
Making paper with straw eliminates the need for the annual "fall burns" set by farmers to clear straw from their fields, creating acrid smoke and carbon emissions.
Recycled Cotton paper is made from t-shirt and denim scraps, diverted from the 10.5 million tons of clothing waste Americans send to landfills every year.
While our amazing production team works on bringing our vision to life, the Design & Engineering team transforms one of our conference rooms to “Santa’s workshop.” Once production hands the foil-stamped and die-cut boxes over, the folding, filling and crinkle paper stuffing can begin. And once again, we embody our inner elves to create sweet bundles of joy.
From our Tap family to yours, we wish you a happy holiday season filled with peace and goodwill. And we hope that you join us in taking inspiration from Mohawk and look to the past to discover the future.
Anna Brown
Author