Olive Oil Jones delivers fresh, geographically specific olive oils harvested from all over the Mediterranean. To keep the oil as fresh as possible before delivery, Olive Oil Jones doesn’t bottle the oil until the customer orders it. Zenpack worked with the company to develop a clever and sustainable system that not only prevents the bottles from breaking while in transit, but also saves time and money. Packaging engineers can relate: What’s the most efficient and sustainable way to ship a glass bottle using nothing but cardboard? It’s the quintessential packaging design challenge; there are even competitions for the best glass bottle box. Due to the company’s specific situation and requirements, Olive Oil Jones presented Zenpack with a unique opportunity to design compact and durable boxes for multiple bottle sizes. They needed packaging for a 4-bottle tasting set, a 1-liter bottle, a 2-liter bottle, and mailers for single-bottle 4-packs. Even though the company ships thousands of liters per month, their team is small. They would need a package that would cut down on the fulfillment process; something so simple to assemble and pack that a single person could fulfill an order in just a few minutes. The challenge became quite clear: Zenpack needed to design an ISTA-tested, folded corrugated structure that could handle multiple bottle weights and sizes while keeping the entire packaging compact, cost-effective, and easy-to-assemble. Sounds easy, right? After multiple iterations and ISTA safety tests, we developed two main corrugated features specifically designed for glass bottles filled with olive oil or vinegar. To our surprise, the ISTA tests revealed that vinegar caused the bottles to break more often than olive oil. The 1- and 2-liter packages slide into a corrugated mailer while the 4-bottle tasting set doubles as the package and mailer. Due to the design parameters and the company’s desire to avoid plastic, we focused on creating a sustainable packaging solution. The packages are constructed with only corrugated cardboard, white glue, soy-based ink, and cotton cloth handles. During the initial design phase for the 1- and 2-liter bottles, we were first inclined to secure them by the long neck and bottom, though we quickly realized the neck was the most vulnerable part of the bottle. Many iterations and tests later, we came up with a triangular structure that would secure the bottle without putting too much pressure on a specific area. The structure also has corrugated layers at the top and bottom with circular cut air pockets, just enough for slight vertical movement and even weight distribution. For the tasting set, we used the same materials with a different approach. The set provides customers an opportunity to sample a variety of olive oils and vinegar in 250 milliliter bottles. Presentation was key. To keep the labels facing upwards, we cut bottle-shaped inserts inside layers of corrugated cardboard. The neck area is cut shallow for additional support, and once the bottles are placed inside, two loose corrugated layers keep the bottles secure.