PACKAGING WOOD & BAMBOO
How wood
& bamboo went mainstream
Once the preserve of high end eco brands, wooden components for beauty packaging are more versatile than ever, while the popularity of bamboo continues to skyrocket. Julia Wray discovers a thriving market
W
ood is an incredibly versatile material. Depending on the finish, it can convey patrician elegance – think a mahogany desk – or the
impression of being hewn from nature. A wooden lid topping a fragrance or jar of cream signals luxury and eco-friendliness in equal measure. “Wood’s very versatility means it can be used for all kinds of packaging,” says Denisa Stircea, who is Wood Category Lead at Spain-based packaging company Quadpack.
“There are many different species, each with their own characteristics. For example, ash has an uneven surface with noticeable wood grain. Beech, on the other hand, is very smooth with a fine pattern. You choose the wood essence to match the look that you want.” “Wood is a renewable resource if it is coming from sustainably managed forests,” adds Maud Lelièvre, Marketing & Communication Director at Cosmogen, a French packaging and accessories provider. “This is a natural material that allows many kinds of shapes for accessories and offers a pleasant contact [feel], while also being aesthetic.”
Another benefit of wood, Lelièvre adds, is that “the investment in tooling for a specific shape is affordable compared with plastic injection”.
A HISTORY OF USE
According to Quadpack, its wood division, based in Catalonia, Spain, effectively created the wooden parts category when it designed and produced the first ever wooden cap for a fragrance bottle – for Burberry Touch for Women in 2001 – back when the company was Technotraf (prior to its acquisition by Quadpack in 2013). “Fragrance was the first segment to embrace wood, primarily for caps. Since then, it has been
36 January 2021
adopted by make-up and skin care, too. Now, there are fully-wooden beauty packs like bottles and compacts, as well as wooden features like collars and discs,” says Stircea. One example is Guerlain’s use of wooden compacts to house its Terracotta bronzing powders, which Stircea describes as works of art.
She adds that the material is garnering interest in the US and Asia Pacific, pointing to Korean brand The SAEM, which recently chose a wooden cap for its men’s skin care range. Quadpack also offers a complete stock line-up of make-up packaging with wooden features called YouWood, with the newest addition being “a gorgeous refillable lipstick”, says Stircea. “We also launched a range of skin care bottles and sprays with an attractive wooden collar that creates instant eco-chic [and] in fragrance, the Air Line range is an all-European line of rectangular bottles.”
Simon Dix, Managing Director of UK-based
Vetroplas, says it is one of a limited number of suppliers which can offer “a premium, eye- catching collection of caps, lids and overshells, with genuine wooden outers combined with secure PP threaded inners”.
These are offered in collaboration with the company’s manufacturing partner Eurovetrocap and obtained from renewable sources, with the wood being Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified and sourced from controlled forests. “The collection is available in two different types of wood,” explains Dix. “The beech option provides a lighter, more regular grain effect while the ash products have a more impactful woodgrain appearance.
“As well as being available as natural beech and ash colours, both of these woods can be
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