The owners of Flouwer Co, a Denver-based company that incorporates edible flowers into CPG products, needed a packaging solution to protect their product from light.

“Our products contain edible flowers, and light is a flower killer,” said Kristen Kapoor, co-owner of Flouwer Co. “The glass jars we used did not adequately protect our product from light when displayed. The flowers would lose their vibrant colors, and the delicate flavors of the salts and sugars were compromised.”

The company worked with Christopher McLaughlin, owner of Tenfold, a brand strategy and design firm for CPG products, to rethink its packaging strategy. They decided to transition to packaging in cardboard tubes that are lightweight and unbreakable, protect the product from light, are made from 100% recycled paper, and are 100% recyclable.

The cardboard tubes have a base cylinder onto which a second, slightly larger cylinder slides over. Flouwer Co will put their product into clear compostable bags and the bags into the cardboard tube, completely eliminating the need for glass jars while giving the brand a more substantial store display presence.

“We’re excited to have packaging that solves the storage and shipping challenges that came with the glass jars, but more importantly, we’re thrilled to have packaging that aligns with Flouwer Co’s values of sustainability,” said Theresa Halliburton, co-owner of Flouwer Co.

By rethinking the container, Flouwer Co gained packaging with more surface area to communicate its brand and have a more substantial shelf presence.

“When I started speaking with Flouwer Co about the challenges they were trying to solve by changing their packaging, they kept saying that their brand felt like the ‘sweet girl in the flower dress hosting the garden party’,” said McLaughlin. “But what they really wanted was to be the girl in the black dress who is the life of the party. Changing the packaging format was a great opportunity to evolve what the Flouwer Co brand is about and give it more of the voice that they wanted.”

McLaughlin incorporated bolder colors into the brand palette to brighten up the packaging and give the product a stronger shelf presence. There are three flavors of sugar, each in two forms: cocktail cubes, and granular finishing sugar. Each flavor has its own family of colors, but the colors are inverted for each form so that the two containers have similarities when sitting next to each other but are different enough to show the different forms.

McLaughlin added a gold foil to communicate the brand’s elevated luxury feel. “Flouwer Co is all about elevating home entertaining to bring life and color to everyday products,” said Kapoor. “Our brand needs to feel accessible, but the gold printing adds a little something that is out-of-the-ordinary and special.”

Hand-drawn watercolor-style flower illustrations were incorporated to wrap around each tube. Each reflects the flowers used in each specific product. “I love seeing our new packaging lined up on the shelf,” Halliburton said. “It’s the brand we’ve always envisioned Flouwer Co to be.”