By Liz Stevens, writer, PostPress

Diamond Packaging (Diamond) of Rochester, New York, rose to the top in the 2024 FSEA Gold Leaf Awards with its winning entry for Best Use of Foil/Embossing – Calendars. The company put together a three-month corporate calendar, as is its custom for creating promotional items, and created a piece that truly is a work of art – or, actually, several works of art. Dennis Bacchetta, director of marketing at Diamond Packaging, gave PostPress the inside scoop on this show-stopping creation.

“This calendar features several decorative options,” said Bacchetta, “including printing, specialty coating, foiling and embossing – all designed to support the packaging design ideation process.” It also showcases the type of decorative effects offered by Diamond Packaging that can transform brands in a cost-effective manner. The 2024 calendar celebrates famous works of art from the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art movements originating in late 19th century France. It is the company’s first calendar designed so that recipients can change the artwork, depending on style or mood, bringing the museum gallery experience to a home or office setting. “The calendar reproduces four masterpieces displayed in a gilded gold frame,” Bacchetta explained. “The four artworks are Vincent van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night,’ Édouard Manet’s ‘Boating,’ Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s ‘Figures on the Beach’ and Henri-Edmond Crossin’s ‘Landscape.’” The three-dimensional picture frame features side closures with locking tabs, allowing the recipient to choose among the four pieces of art and change which one is featured in the frame. Diamond even added an artistic touch to the shipping package for the piece, envisioning it as a constructed wood artwork shipping crate complete with a ‘Fragile’ stencil.

The overall main piece is in a long vertical format with four panels. The top panel presents the three-dimensional gilded frame hanging – with one’s choice of artwork – beneath a small picture light on the blue wall of an art museum. The second, third and fourth panels present the continuation of the blue museum wall; they are spiral bound with fine metal, each with a one-month calendar that shares its upper spiral binding. The third and fourth panels include wainscoting and molding on the museum wall, and the fourth (bottom) panel depicts the museum’s hardwood floor and two cushioned viewing benches.

Bacchetta explained that the calendar was crafted with several objectives in mind. “The design,” he said, “was chosen to illustrate many of Diamond’s capabilities, including creative design, multi-color UV printing, UV gloss spot coating, cold foiling, multi-level embossing and intricate diecutting.” Another objective was to showcase the type of decorative effects that cost-effectively can elevate customers’ brands, including cold foiling and specialty coatings. “We also wanted to create a colorful, beautifully decorated structural and ornamental piece,” said Bacchetta, “that users will want to have near their desks.” A final objective was to promote the use of Clearwater’s ReMagine™ paperboard – made with 30% post-consumer recycled (PCR) fiber – to consumer-packaged goods (CPG) brands looking to address growing trends in sustainable packaging.

“As a calendar,” said Bacchetta, “it can be enjoyed all year, continually reinforcing Diamond’s brand. As a capabilities piece, it can be used longer than one year, which increases its shelf life and utility.”

Production Details

The paper stock used in the production of Diamond’s 2024 calendar includes Clearwater ReMagine 30% PCW paperboard for the calendar header and backers, Domtar Cougar Smooth 80# Text paper for calendar pages, and Clearwater Candesce^® SBS paperboard laminated to E-flute corrugated fiberboard for the artwork packing/shipping box.

The calendar’s final design captures the essence of four individual artwork pieces through a carefully chosen combination of multi-color UV printing, cold foiling, UV textured specialty coating, multi-level embossing and intricate diecutting for each piece. “The graphic design of the self-promotional pieces communicates the company’s high-end branding and sustainability initiatives,” said Bacchetta, “while imparting unusual depth and distinction through creative design, material selection and specialty effects.”

The effects and embellishments include tightly registered coatings that were used to enhance the design and highlight the individual calendar components. The museum wall features UV matte, and UV satin coating was used on the wall’s wainscoting and molding. UV satin coating was used on text to add contrast. For van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night,’ specialty coating was applied, giving dimension to the brush strokes. For Crossin’s ‘Landscape,’ two coatings were applied to create a subtle contrast between the color and white areas. Renoir’s ‘Figures on the Beach’  features DiamondTexture specialty coating, which was applied to the sand in the artwork to create haptic feedback.

Diamond Packaging enlisted four systems to produce the calendar. Printing was handled by a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106 offset press (with FoilStar cold foil unit). A Bobst BMA foil stamper/embosser provided the embossing finesse. Diecutting was done with a Bobst 102 CER diecutter/blanker/stripper. Gluing was applied with a Bobst Masterfold 110A-2 (gyro).

Diamond also used cold foils and embossing to produce the calendar. “Silver cold foil, supplied by Univacco,” said Bacchetta, “delivers shimmering metallic effects on the gilded gold picture frame and the Diamond Packaging text. Holographic ‘wave pattern’ cold foil, supplied by KURZ, adds more realism to the water in the Manet ‘Boating’ artwork.” Bacchetta described how embossing lends distinction and depth to the design. “Many components,” he said, “were embossed, including the picture frame, wainscoting, molding and the leather viewing benches. Multi-level embossing tastefully was applied to the individual artwork pieces to add even more depth, combining to offer visual and tactile effects that promote consumer interaction.”

The company overcame challenges that arose from the need for ultra-tight registration, the requirement for consistency of color in all components of the overall piece and the desire to produce the piece in a cost-conscious way. “One challenge was maintaining consistent color among all four of the components (header, backers, shipper),” said Bacchetta, “all of which were on separate forms. Tight color control was maintained by using closed-loop scanning spectrophotometry.” Another aspect that presented a challenge was the need for extremely tight registration of the UV gloss spot coating, the DiamondTexture specialty coating, the cold foil and the multi-level embossed areas. Bacchetta stated that this challenge was met by optimizing the production layouts to best support the registration requirements. “And in general,” said Bacchetta, “we strove to incorporate all of the value-added processes in as few production steps as possible. We achieved efficiency through the use of more sustainable inline converting methods, including cold foiling and specialty coating. This reduced material and energy compared to offline processes.” 

For more information, visit www.diamondpackaging.com.