Sappi Holiday Kit

Packaging design

Project Overview

Each year, Sappi celebrates the holiday season by gifting a thoughtfully designed kit to clients and partners—a tradition that strengthens relationships and reinforces the brand’s values. For 2023, our team at VSA Partners was tasked with creating a kit that felt premium and festive while also embodying Sappi’s commitment to sustainability and innovation.

We began by grounding the concept in current consumer trends and economic conditions: while people were spending less overall, they were still willing to invest in meaningful experiences that sparked joy. With this insight, we designed a holiday kit that embraced simplicity and delivered delight through intentional design and messaging—creating small moments of joy throughout the unboxing experience.

We were honored to win a 2024 PRINT award in the promotional design category for this piece.

Scope

Copywriting
Creative concepting
Packaging design
Print design
Production

Collaborators

Elisa Penello, Lead Designer
Elaine Palutsis, Associate Creative Director
YanYan Zhang, Executive Creative Director
Jessica Sochol, Strategy
Bisola Sosan, Copy

Form factor

We started with the smallest elements and built outward, creating a curated set of nested boxes, each with a surprise made from Sappi’s premium paper products. This inside-out approach ensured every layer of the unboxing experience delivered intentional design and genuine delight.

Design elements

The visual system is vibrant and engaging, using asterisks as both functional and textural elements. A festive yet timeless color palette keeps it relevant year-round, while playful touches, like custom punctuation smiley faces and asterisk patterns, tie everything into a cohesive, visually rich experience.

Packaging elements

The uniquely shaped nesting boxes fit perfectly inside the main package, each topped with a custom asterisk and finished in foil, gloss, or embossing to highlight the premium quality of Sappi’s papers. Playful copy—like “sealed with a click”—enhances the experience by referencing the satisfying sound of the magnetic closure. Inside the smaller boxes, recipients discover more moments of delight: embossed notecards, patterned pillow boxes, and cheerful stickers. Thoughtfully curated from start to finish, the kit brings joy not just during the holidays, but year-round.

The result was a joyful, design-led experience that showcased Sappi’s values and materials—earning a 2024 PRINT Award and leaving a lasting impression well beyond the holiday season.