We speak to Alberto Cienfuegos, from Valencia based design studio Lavernia & Cienfuegos, to learn more about them and their 2024 Sustainable Design Platinum award-winning work for Ecoalf.

Tell us a little bit about the agency, Lavernia & Cienfuegos

In 1995, Nacho Lavernia created his own studio after having worked in other design agencies for many years. At the time, he was teaching at the CEU University, and I, Alberto Cienfuegos, was one of his students. He invited me to join the team, and five years later, he asked me to become a partner. That’s how Lavernia&Cienfuegos was born.

In 2014, we hired Juan Cervera, a renowned graphic designer specialising in video and animation, who became a partner three years ago. Currently, the team consists of eleven designers, both graphic and product, and one person in charge of the financial management.

I think that one of the keys to our way of working is that the whole team has a high degree of creative freedom, but we have all adopted a way of doing things that is a hallmark of all our projects. We could define it as intelligent simplicity. In science, it is said that the most brilliant and elegant solutions are the simplest. I believe the same applies to design. In science it is understood that there must be an innovative aspect, and the same goes for design. Simplicity must go hand in hand with innovation, but it has to be a viable innovation, that is to say, something that can be manufactured, at the right cost, and that users—even if they are astonished—can understand and desire. This forms part of our principles.

Whats your main area of expertise?

When we started the studio in 1995, our focus was on graphic and product design, with a major emphasis on the bathroom sector. Packaging wasn’t a well-established activity among designers, at least in Spain, and when we received our first commissions, we realised that we could provide comprehensive solutions that combined graphic design with the structural design of the packaging itself.

Demand continued to grow, and packaging gradually became the studio’s core business. We began working for international clients like Unilever in London, Natura in Sao Paulo and Delhaize in Brussels. We started to internationalise, which continues to this day.

Lavernia & Cienfuegos' box design for chocolates and cookies - The Little Houses of Utopick

Lavernia & Cienfuegos' design for U/1ST make up brand

Where do you see the agency heading to next? 

Society is changing dramatically—technology, values, interests, politics, the markets… and so is design. There are enormous challenges that we will have to address: the demands of sustainability, those of the online market, the threats and opportunities of AI, the emergence of other fields for professional practice, such as service design, social design, participatory design, inclusive design, etc. I believe we will be there, giving it our all and, hopefully, winning more Pentawards!

Congratulations on winning the Platinum award in the Sustainable Design category (sponsored by UPM Raflatac) this year! Tell us a bit more about this project.

We’ve making submissions to the Pentawards for many years. In fact, it is thanks to this platform that we have achieved a level of international prestige. They are highly demanding, prestigious awards with a significant impact, so it was fantastic to receive this accolade. We’re very proud.

We’ve been incorporating sustainability principles into our projects for some time now, but Ecoalf Wellness, which is the award-winning project, is the one that has required the greatest commitment, the greatest effort and the greatest depth in the development of a 100% sustainable design. It’s a real pleasure to see all this dedication being recognised through the award.

Alberto at the 2023 Pentawards Gala Ceremony collecting the Platinum award for ECOALF (middle)

Can you talk us through the journey of creating the packaging for Ecoalf, the inspiration and challenges in bringing the pack to life?

Ecoalf is a fashion company that works with fabrics made from plastics salvaged from the sea. Their commitment to the environment is absolute. So when the commission came through our client RNB Laboratorios, we realised that it was not just about designing sustainable packaging, but it also involved rethinking the sustainability of the product itself (bath soaps, creams, etc.).

Everything from production to transport, packaging and consumption had to be brought into line with the principles of the circular economy. This went beyond our expertise, so we discussed it with RNB and Ecoalf and worked for months with their marketing, production and formulation teams to find ways to achieve waterless, solid or powdered products.

This forced us to design packaging that, in addition to being eco-friendly, would also address this novel approach of use for consumers. It was quite a challenge!

Which part of creating the pack did you and the team love the most?

The entire process was incredible, beginning with the insight that we had to go beyond packaging. There was a tremendous amount of research and information gathering on materials, manufacturing processes, analysis of issues related to the use of powdered soap or the use of refills, and so on. It was a very intense and enriching experience for all our team.

Lavernia & Cienfuegos' Platinum Award winning work for Ecoalf

Are you currently working on any exciting new projects? 

Well, we’ve been working for Nivea on an exciting global project for four years now. And we are about to start on another project to develop fragrances for a highly avant-garde haute couture brand, which is quite a challenge, and at the same time we are embarking on the design of the visual identity and packaging for a food company in the patisserie sector. These are two radically different projects, and combining them is something that greatly appeals to us.

We believe that carrying out projects from different sectors at the same time, which have very distinct problems, enriches our work. As well as providing an oxygenating effect, as if you were opening a window and letting the air circulate, it offers you the possibility of transferring knowledge and approaches from one sector to another, and this, in many cases, helps you to find innovative solutions.

What does the power of design mean to you?

I believe design is the most powerful link between manufacturers and consumers. Moreover, design contributes to building society and giving meaning to the tangible goods market, and that is a great responsibility. Designing is not only about making your designs successful—in other words, that they make people’s lives better and, consequently, are profitable for your client—but it also requires proposing solutions that are good for the future of society as a whole. Just as Victor Papanek was advocating more than fifty years ago.

Finally, what is your message to young designers or students who are entering the design world?

To those starting out, I would say be very demanding of yourselves, have critical thinking, be intellectually and technically curious, and beyond achieving personal success and recognition in the eyes of your peers, seek appropriateness in what you design. In other words, provide solutions that meet your client’s expectations as a company and address what the user needs as an individual and as a member of society.

Find out more about Lavernia & Cienfuegos here , and enter this year's competition for a chance to be a Platinum Award winner!