2019 was a great year here at Pusterla . We added new employees, did major renovations to create our now cutting-edge design studio and marketing department, had our biggest award-winning year to date receiving over a dozen awards, and all the while, we took on some of our most creative and challenging packaging projects to date.
As a thank you to our customers, followers, partners, and employees – we wanted to put together a recap of 2019.
Award Winning Packaging Designs
The greatest part of our year was earning so many prestigious awards. Two projects, in particular, stood out as the best of 2019.
FootJoy StaSof Presentation Kit
Together with our partners at FootJoy – The StaSof team and the Pusterla Box Design team worked to develop a one of a kind presentation kit which assisted the StaSof Sales Team in demonstrating the top-quality and performance of StaSof, the #1 Glove in Golf.
The presentation kit was one of the most complex and engaging pieces to come out of our shop all year. The FootJoy StaSof Presentation Kit went on to win multiple awards including the Premier Print Award (also known as the Benny) from the Printing Industries of America (PIA) for Promotional Campaigns: Business to Business.
The FootJoy StaSof Presentation Kit also won
- Two PINE Pinnacle Awards: Business to Business Marketing Campaigns and Presentation Folders: 4 Colors or More
- A Gold Award from the Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC) for Outstanding Achievement in Packaging
Goslings Old Rum Box
Likewise, our work with Klim Design for a packaging rebrand of Goslings Old Rum earned multiple awards.
The incredible foil decoration that adorns the Goslings Old Rum box was the most lauded part of the design. Ron Pointbriant is the expert behind all the incredible foil stamping at Pusterla Box, and in 2019, Ron cinched plenty of awards for Pusterla Box including:
- PINE Pinnacle Award: Best Use of Foil/Embossing on a Rigid Box
- Best Use of Foil/Embossing – Rigid Box from the Foil and Specialty Effects Association (FSEA)
- PINE Award of Recognition: Cartons & Containers
The sister piece to this box, Goslings Papa Seal, also received a PINE Award of Merit: Cartons & Containers and an Award of Recognition: Film or Foil Stamping: Embossing/Debossing.
Other big winners in 2019 were our 2017 Holiday Nesting Doll Box which won a PINE Pinnacle Award for Printer’s Self-Promotion, and the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) box which won a PPC Excellence Award for Achievement in Packaging.
New Team Members
2019 was a great year for expanding our small, but powerful team at Pusterla. We are lucky beyond belief to have such talented and hard-working people as part of the Pusterla Box family.
In our Sales team – veteran Julianne Lefebvre returned to lead our sales team, including Victoria Reed who came on board to spread the gospel of award winning packaging designs to new customers, and last, but certainly not least, our new Designer Alejandra Garcia joined our award-winning design team, bringing her craft and creativity to every box she makes.
Certified Quality
After a year of refining and improving our quality processes throughout the shop, we proudly earned our ISO 9001:2015 Certification.
Led by our ISO leader, Donna Costa, Pusterla Box employees gained a greater understanding of the procedures, received cross-departmental training, and made improvements to inventory management; all of which contribute to a more efficient manufacturing process and a company-wide dedication to quality. ISO Certification means that every box we make is held to high standards and quality is always our goal.
Industry Events
We love our shop, but we have to get out every now and then. In 2019 Pusterla Box was moving and shaking, making new connections all over the country.
We headed out to Arizona for the Printing Industries of America President’s Conference, meeting printers from across the united states, then off to Atlanta where we got to meet some of the best creatives in sports entertainment at MLC Connect. Back in New England, we had a chance to catch up with our fellow manufacturers at the annual RIMA Breakfast and our partners in the print and paper industry at the PINE Focus Conference.
This year, we were honored to sponsor the 2019 PINE Women in Print summit. Our intern Molly Nunes designed a new logo for Women in Print using CMYK colors as inspiration along with a completely custom box for a selection of gourmet chocolates from Aura’s Chocolates.
We worked with Superior Packaging to develop the CMYK-inspired chocolate box, utilizing Superior’s exceptional printing capabilities to create a rich coated wrap. The boxes were filled with four flavors of artisan chocolate from Aura’s in corresponding CMYK tones and were given out to attendees of the Women in Print luncheon. The event was a powerful showing of the indispensable women who make print the vital industry it is.
After all that traveling, we thought we’d like to host for a change. So, we invited members of the New England chapter of the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) to come tour our shop. We showed off our fleet of Emmeci machines, our skilled Hand Department, and the ingenious packaging design that goes into every box we make.
In what was probably our most successful event of the year, we collaborated with DESIGNxRI to host a one of a kind Box-Making Workshop in our factory during Design Week.
DESIGNxRI strives to connect designers from all over the Ocean State, and we were proud to have so many creatives in our shop. With some help from our friends at Ecological Fibers, we gave designers a chance to build their own totally unique tray in a four-panel rigid box. It was the first event of its kind that we’ve hosted at Pusterla Box, and the outpouring of support was overwhelming.
Fantastic Features
We’re so grateful for all of the media attention we received this year. First, we had the pleasure of being featured on Rhode Island’s own Marketing Essentials Podcast.
Justin, Alicia, and Bill of the Marketing Essentials team invited Judy and James from the marketing team at Pusterla Box to discuss the importance of custom packaging and branding. It was a real pleasure to talk the business of boxes with a friendly and clever group like the Marketing Essentials team.
We were featured alongside some of the best manufacturers in the Ocean State in Stuff Magazine by Providence Business News. And we were surprised to find ourselves in Rhode Island Inno as one of 9 Rhody Makers to Watch.
Before the year closed out, we had the pleasure of Paper and Packaging Board coming down to Warren to create an outstanding feature about Pusterla Box and our multi-award-winning FootJoy StaSof Presentation Kit. As part of their How Life Unfolds campaign, Paper and Packaging Board put together a gorgeous video of our work with sky-high production value. Senior Business Analyst Marken Shedd and Senior Designer Ken Byrne star in the video, along with some familiar faces of the factory floor.
It’s hard to believe 2020 is already here. Looking back, we have plenty of accomplishments to be proud of this year. Thanks to our partners, customers, suppliers, friends and fans who support our mission to make the best custom rigid boxes in the world. Here’s to another year of world-class packaging.
Want to make your next project the Best of 2020? Get in touch with us today!