If you missed it, here’s a few of the Pentawards highlights from London Packaging Week Last Week.

A stellar line-up all round, speakers took to the Luxury, Food and Consumer and Beauty Stage to discuss our favourite topic; Packaging. As the leading packaging design platform and community, Pentawards powered some brilliant design-focused talks throughout the two days.

Yvonne Eng-Hall, Creative Director at Design Bridge and Partners was the first of the Pentawards' speakers on the Luxury Stage, she discussed exploring the ever-changing landscape of luxury design to re-establish relevance. With two-case studies, the first from Harvey Nichols ‘Pleasurama’ food range, which pioneered a completely different angle to typical food packaging with striking colours and maximalist design to depict and dramatise each part of the artisanal product, resulting in a sensory overload. This breakthrough food packaging design was rolled out throughout the stores, from visual merchandising to website. Yvonne then discussed working with Diageo on the new Tanqueray Nº TEN. With a focus to humanise the design and connect with the heritage and exceptional artistry, resulting in a design that’s reminiscent of the iconic cocktail shaker, featuring an original stamp and Charles Tanqueray’s signature.

Day two highlights kicked off with a very important panel about diversity in the design industry. Discussing the state of diversity in the industry and how it’s essential for innovation and growth, Paul O’Brien, Design Director Elmwood, lead the panel with Kieron Lewis, Freelance Graphic Designer and Host for Adobe & D&AD Festival Shanice Mears, Co-Founder & Head of Talent The Elephant Room, Chloe Davies, Founder & CEO It Takes A Village Collective and Jason Armstrong, Founder Diversely Talented. Paul’s shocking statistics about black creatives in the industry really stuck, as the panel discussed the importance of representation, allyship and rather than just talking about change, actioning it.

Denise Llanera-Wittleton, Senior Graphic Designer at the National Gallery was next to the Luxury Stage with a very beautiful presentation making full use of the National Gallery pieces, to talk about designing for an iconic British institution. The design team took on a mammoth re-design task using elements of some iconic pieces of art to run through their packaging, such as on tote bags and soaps, whilst ensuring they kept the integrity of the original painting. Denise also touched on sustainable design and the view of designing in the best possible way until there’s a better version of it.

The final talk of the day was at the Food and Consumer Stage, with Bianca Warren, Senior Retail Manager at PizzaExpress and Beth Johnson, Account Director at Brandon Consultants. Focused on giving back PizzaExpress their iconic look when transitioning from restaurants to the supermarket isle. Brandon Consultants were brought on for the re-brand, they wanted to focus on the quality, flavour and authenticity starting with what was already working and what wasn’t. A creative journey to re-discovering the brand’s roots, they were inspired by both founder, Peter Boizot and the iconic character Enzo, who brings joy, artistry and showmanship to the brand. Combined with the bold and memorable logo and beautiful food illustrations, the new packaging was sure to stand out on the chilled pizza isle.

Away from the stages, dressed in lilac, the vibrant Pentawards stand displayed 12 entries from this year’s 2024 competition, as part of our People’s Choice Award. Attendees to London Packaging Week were able to see, touch and read a bit more about each entry before casting their vote for their favourite. With some really eye-catching designs, clever functionality, and thought-provoking narratives, at this stage it’s anyone’s guess who’s got their hand on the People’s Choice Award. You can read more about the 12 entries here .

If you didn’t get the chance to have your say, head to our Instagram and like your favourite to cast your vote! The winner will be announced at our Gala Ceremony on 25th October.

A big thank you for coming to visit and chat with us, to our amazing speakers and to London Packaging Week for creating such a fantastic show this year