EXTREM is a new brand of Iberian ham from free-range acorn-fed Iberian pigs. The company wants a place among the best brands in its category, and it needs for its sliced ham an innovative packaging, a different one from the competition.

Their competition sells in food stores and gourmet shops, where ham is packed in cardboard or even in tins. As a premium quality and priced product, it requires an adequate packaging. The challenge was that EXTREM wanted to look different, but not to increase their prices, so we decided to look for a different shape or material within price range, but clearly distinctive.

There is an approach we love at L&C, and it is to propose the use of materials or features from different sectors, from other product typologies, far from the “universe” of the item we are working with. This led us to think about cellulose pulp, a material used to pack eggs and also widely used as a material to protect fragile electronic products. A humble material with no semantic pollution.

It has a low cost per unit if large amounts are manufactured. So we already had our proposal for EXTREM. A design which stands out from the competition in innovation and image, and furthermore, it has great advantages in cost and sustainability. The very material acts as a hinge, so the package is made from a single piece. It has a compulsory round window (the ham has to be displayed) made with a die of the mould, the same as the brand engraving, so there is no need for a later printing process. It is closed by means of a piece of string, a typical element in ham elaboration and presentation.