Apprentices from Thurgau are designing our new Bag-in-Box
The history of Sophia's design
The story of our new Bag-in-Box
Sophia is about to complete her training as a painter – her creative winning design has already won over many people. Her winning design was created as part of the Thurgau Painters’ Apprentice Competition, sponsored by Model AG. This year’s brief was to develop creative Bag-in-Box packaging for apple juice or sweet cider.
The Bag-in-Box is available to order now and combines practicality with a unique, regionally inspired design.
"That everyone can see something different in it," says Sophia. This is exactly what has always fascinated her about design. You can create something that others look at and interpret in very different ways. Everyone brings their own thoughts and feelings – and it is precisely this personal scope for interpretation that makes design exciting for them.
"Everyone looks at something differently and thinks of something of their own – that's exactly what I think is cool."
The topic of wood was actually in her head from the beginning. At first, however, Sophia had another idea and was already working on a first prototype. When she showed it to her boss, she got honest feedback: The implementation would probably be too complicated and would take too much time. Together, they then developed the idea of the apple crate further. Sophia is particularly proud of the green apple, which later became a real eye-catcher. "That was the perfect eye-catcher for me," she says with a laugh.
"Probably over 50 hours," says Sophia. The first apple in particular surprised her: she worked on it for almost an hour and a half. Over time, however, it became faster and safer. "It was easier from apple to apple," she says. In the end, she only needed about 15 to 20 minutes at a time.
Most of the time she listens to music while painting. Basically, she describes her creative process as more spontaneous. She just starts drawing and then continues to work on it until it really suits her. Often a lot of things are created step by step during the making. For her, design is always a process that develops.
She is particularly proud of how genuine her design looks. She has spent a long time analyzing real apples and observing closely how colors, shapes and light work. The wood look also caused many reactions. "Many actually thought the wood was glued on," she says. Everything was painted completely with acrylic.
"Many believed that the wood was real or glued on – but everything is painted."
The moment of the announcement was quite funny, Sophia says. Her colleagues had said from the beginning that she would win. However, she herself didn't really believe in it because there were so many strong designs. But her colleagues were sure that her design stood out in particular. When her name was actually called, everyone immediately shouted: "We told you, Sophia!"
The fact that you can buy her product afterwards is also surreal for her - but at the same time a moment of which she is incredibly proud. Since her family privately runs a farm of their own, it feels even more special to her when people can actually buy her design later.