On Paper, Designer is A Natural Fit for Black Box

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 04/23/2012

Jeff Nishinaka would seem to be a natural fit for Iggesund Paperboard's Black Box Project, which challenges designers to create something - anything - that uses the company's Invercote board and fits into a box of given dimensions. "I manipulate paper in the least invasive way, to keep the integrity and feel of it," said Nishinaka, a paper sculptor who works exclusively with paper-based materials. "Paper and paperboard to me is a living, breathing entity with a life of its own." Nishinaka's work, which he has been creating since the early 1980s and which includes 'Downtown LA', pictured above, exudes a limitless love of these materials that few other people can match. His subject matter ranges from Oriental fables to modern everyday life. His contribution to the Black Box Project will be presented at an exhibition in Milan on May 15, which will also display the previous five boxes produced as part of the project. "We're looking for creative minds who really push the limits of what can be done with Invercote," said Carlo Einarsson, director market communications at Iggesund Paperboard. "But the project is also a tribute to all the designers who have chosen Invercote over the years to be the starting point for their fabulous packaging designs." Einarsson emphasised that the Black Box Project was not like traditional advertising campaigns in which the client expressed detailed wishes and closely supervised the outcome. The designers who chose to take part in Iggesund's project had great freedom. The only stipulation was that they must work with Invercote and create something that reflected their own distinctiveness and Invercote's possibilities. "The degree of freedom and the opportunity to create something extraordinary have made it easy to find designers eager to take part," Einarsson said. "A number of designers have contacted us to say they would like to participate. We're very satisfied with the response so far, both to the exhibitions we have held and to our web pages about the project. "In a world where the choice of materials for a design project is unfortunately often a matter of habit, it is important for us to showcase the additional opportunities that Invercote gives designers to fully realise their creative ambitions." The Black Box Project has previously exhibited in Paris, London, Amsterdam, New York, Stockholm and Hamburg. Most recently, the designer and illustrator, Sebastian Onufszak, contributed a film about life as a closed circle. The film was shown using a video player integrated into a black paperboard box. The other exhibitors will be the Dutch firm of van Heertum Design, technical magicians who delight in combining printing techniques, use more than 30 colors and varnishes, and often then add more finishing touches, to the awe of technical devotees and the despair of production economists. Landor, of Paris, elegantly demonstrates how designers break through all boundaries established by their clients. Brunazzi & Associati from Turin have created a survival kit for pasta lovers that includes pasta tongs and a colander, both made of paperboard. Marc Benhamou, a Frenchman based in New York, presents his interpretation of beauty in a new interpretation of the 22 Major Arcana cards from the tarot deck. "This project is an adventure and we don't really know where it will end," Einarsson said. "But Invercote is the strongest brand on the European paperboard market, and that strength gives us the freedom to try new ways of communicating." After Milan there are plans for the Black Box Project to continue on to Moscow and Tokyo within the next year. Enditem