Street food packaging concept earns student top prize

Balazs Kovacs

A young student has taken the top honours in a national packaging design competition after creating a new packaging concept for the booming street food sector.

Balazs Kovacs, a student at Ravensbourne in London, was recently crowned the winner of the Pro Carton UK Young Designer Competition. The prize was awarded by Pro Carton – the European Association of Carton and Cartonboard manufacturers – and its UK counterpart, BPIF Cartons.

Kovacs’ winning design, made entirely from cartonboard, is said to offer a sustainable and environmentally-friendly solution that is both cost effective to produce and easy to use. He explained, “I believe packaging is an essential part of the quality street food experience. It is how vendors present their delicious food and how consumers interact with the products and ultimately the packaging.

“With my solution, I intended to design something that is complementary to the food, provides a clean and comfortable experience for the consumer, affordable for the vendor and protects our environment.”

The award was presented by Tony Hitchin, general manager of Pro Carton and Jon Clark, general manager of BPIF Cartons.

The UK Young Designer Competition is part of a Europe-wide competition to recognise and reward young designers using cartonboard.