Anthon Berg Packaging
Structural packaging for Anthon Berg Chocolate Liqueurs, built around Norse mythology.
Concept
Structure carries the narrative here, not surface graphics.
The design starts from the brand's Danish heritage instead of generic decoration. It draws on Norse mythology, specifically the Vegvísir, an eight-directional compass symbol that gives the box its octagonal form.
The chocolates are shaped like miniature bottles, so the outer box echoes that silhouette instead of working against it.
Process
Structure before surface
A folding box like this succeeds or fails on mechanics, not decoration, so development started with the structural form before any surface design.
Paper prototypes
Physical mock-ups came well before digital renders. Each fold pattern was assessed for stability under handling, ease of assembly and how well it protected the bottle-shaped chocolates inside.
Surface design
Once the octagonal petal-fold proved sound, four engraving-style line illustrations of Norse goddesses were set against navy, with Celtic knotwork as ornamental dividers between panels.
Iterations
Most looked viable flat on paper, then failed the moment they were folded and handled.
Four structural directions were tested in paper, each judged on the same criteria: stability, assembly ease, and protective capacity for the bottles inside. The octagonal petal-fold with a locking lid was the only structure that held up consistently across repeated assembly tests.
Outcome
An octagonal petal-fold box with a locking lid, printed with four hand-illustrated Norse goddesses.
Celtic knotwork sits as a dividing motif between each face, reinforcing the mythological framework without overwhelming the illustrations. A hand-assembled physical prototype confirmed the structure worked at production scale, not just as a flat digital render.
Key Takeaways
Building the structure in paper before touching a screen turned out to be the most valuable part of the process.
- 01
Digital tools offer control, but paper prototyping reveals what actually holds under real handling and what collapses at the first fold.
- 02
Testing structural viability early prevented wasted time refining surface illustration on a form that wouldn't have worked in production anyway.