The Wiltshire based manufacturing company collected the trophies at the glittering awards event held in London on February 22. The Starpack Awards – the “Oscars” of the packaging world - are widely viewed as the leading packaging industry accolades, having been launched over 50 years ago.

The sought-after awards were contested by some of worlds’ leading and largest packaging producers, supplying an array of household name brands.

David Mason, Sales Director at GWP Packaging said: “Our business places a strong emphasis on our design expertise and service that we offer to our customers, which is reflected in having more designers than the vast majority of other packaging companies. We are obviously delighted that our efforts have been recognised with these awards.”

GWP entered a pack designed for high end lighting designer Haberdashery into the Home Delivery category, which was given a silver award.

However, it was a pack for the James Dyson Foundation that proved most successful, winning Gold and Sustainability awards, as well as the coveted best in show prize.

This winning pack was a reusable, multi trip packaging solution that allowed the James Dyson Foundation to supply a Dyson Desk-Cooler product and supporting literature to schools and colleges nationwide via courier.

The predecessor to the redesigned pack displayed very little engineering thought. It was heavy, slow to manufacture, difficult to assemble, didn’t provide adequate protection and was inefficient in terms of material and cost.

The judges were impressed that the new packaging enabled items to be easily packed and un-packed, keeps all components protected during transit and achieved significant cost savings. They also highlighted that the pack now reflects the engineering ethos and overarching purpose of the educational pack - in effect, it is an engineered solution to facilitate an engineering and education focused project.

Mike Poynter, Design Manager at GWP, said: “Winning a Starpack Award is an achievement in itself, but to have a pack win the best in show award is a massive achievement. We are absolutely thrilled with the result”

 

Founded in 1958 by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, for 59 years the Starpack Awards have celebrated excellence and sustainability in packaging. As a result, Starpack is widely regarded as the UK’s leading awards for all facets of the packaging industry, including manufacture, design and new technology.

It is also run alongside the popular and highly successful schools and student competition, which focuses on the next generation of packaging designers and innovation.

The Starpack Awards underline strong ongoing performance at GWP, with the company having recently announced another successful year of trading with a strong increase in turnover and new business.  The Cotswold and Wiltshire-based manufacturing company saw turnover increase 8.9% in the 2016/17 financial year, up from 8.4% in the previous year. 

Established in 1990, GWP now employ over 100 people at locations in Salisbury and Cricklade.

For further information about the awards, please visit www.iom3.org/starpack, or to find out more about GWP see www.gwp.co.uk or telephone 01793 754444.