Best Packaging 2025, finalists on display

Mar 25, 2025

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The run-up to the "best packaging" awards which, we remind you, are scheduled for Ipack-Ima 2025, begins with an event during the Fuori Salone in Milan (April 8-13).

The exhibition that presents the finalists - selected by a jury of experts - in the 2025 edition of the famous award organized by Packaging Meeting Srl and promoted by Istituto Italiano Imballaggio in collaboration with Ipack-Ima – under the patronage of CONAI and Politecnico di Milano -, with the aim of rewarding solutions that stand out in terms of planning and design in the direction of technical and technological innovation, is called "Best Packaging 2025, design and technology for the future".
Sustainability, creativity and design are, therefore, the key words guiding the selection of outstanding projects, which will be previewed at the Archivolto space in Milan with an event scheduled April 8-13 and forming part of Fuori Salone 2025. The exhibition brings together the most visionary designs developed by companies in the industry, from materials to technologies, from shapes to performances, to offer a glimpse into the trends that will redefine packaging in the years to come.

Categories that look to the future of packaging. The exhibition's thematic areas, divided between sustainability and new materials, offer solutions that are biodegradable, recyclable, reusable, and generally compliant with the new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulations. The categories chosen to define different areas include smart technologies for packaging, emotional design and visual storytelling, for a packaging approach that becomes a tool for communication and storytelling in the digital age.

The projects previewed

Ahead of the awards ceremony, scheduled to take place at Ipack-Ima 2025 - FieraMilano Rho May 27-20 - here is an overview of the projects selected from the shortlist of finalists.
Let's start with food and beverage with solutions ranging from Barilla's Pinsa flowpack to CCM's high-barrier paperboard thermoformed tray; from Goglio's fres-co System®+ solution to GranTerre with a sustainable package for cured meats and Snack&Vai paper-based packaging characterized by high mechanical strength.
Machinability and durability are the pluses of the robiola cheese wrapper with high barrier properties from Fattorie Osella, while large-scale retail enters the list of selected projects with the post-consumer food grade recycled tray from Happy for Unicoop Firenze.
Concluding the roundup are Irplast with its innovative eco design of a strap for transporting beverages, Lindt&Sprungli, focusing on single-material solutions for its packages, Loacker, which is switching from labels to inline printing, and, finally, Smilesys and Mustang Pack, with its T-bag packaging solution for fruit and vegetables.
Moving on to beauty, a sector where packaging plays a functional but also an emotional role, there is Davines Group SpA Tranquillity™ Flower Blend [Comfort Zone] bottle in satin glass, Lumson's XTAG connected glass airless refill for a smart shopping experience, and Taghleef and Plastigraf Trevigiana's sustainable packaging for the luxury market.
Packaging design and sustainable materials underpin the cardboard edge and corner protectors of Brafim, as well as of Grifal, which, with tissuePack, is launching an innovative multi-layer and corrugated solution for protecting objects using 100 percent natural material. On the other hand, Isiplast focuses on the integrity of the product with a clip band that ensures closure while also serving as a warranty seal.
Multifunctional packaging design is featured in the proposals of ICO, which launches a shopping bag capable of transforming into a shoe rack, Lucaprint with its thermoformed valveless cardboard packaging for gardening products, and Vimar, which presents cardboard sized and optimized to package a relay module. Sustainability plays a leading role, finally for the gluing solutions adopted by Tiber Pack which, with Nicetuck, offers an automatic glueless case packing system.
The overview closes with new materials that will make their mark in the coming years with their innovation qualities. Standing out in this areas are the designs of Irplast, which offers Mono Material Lidding, biaxially oriented polypropylene laminated to a peelable polypropylene cast, with high thermostability properties. Finally, Plastigraf Trevigiana presents Picasso™ Natura, a certified compostable and recyclable white cardboard with a water dispersion coating application.