By Erin Judge, managing editor, PostPress

Inspired by classic literature, Spectrum Packaging Corporation’s (SPC) latest holiday self-promotion, The Chronicles of SPC, is poised to become a classic in its own right. The piece, which features intricate diecutting; multi-layer, multi-pass foil stamping; embossing and spot UV across 27 individual components, has earned “Best of Show” for Conventional Foil and Embossing for this year’s FSEA Gold Leaf Awards, along with Gold for Best Use of Foil/Embossing – Self Promotion (Holiday).

Over the past 12 years, SPC’s annual holiday promotional piece has evolved from what President Mark Mills described as “plain and simple” into a luxurious showcase of craftsmanship. The Orlando-based packaging company began work on this year’s project in February. “It starts as a collaboration with design and engineering, then production makes it all happen,” said Mills. “People throughout the whole company provide input. It is 100% a team effort.”

Built around the concept of a hinged book, this year’s piece aimed to evoke a sense of nostalgia. “We wanted that vintage feel of an old Charles Dickens novel,” said Hannah Serbus, customer service and food-packaging safety manager at SPC. “From there, the ideas got a bit wild – pushing the boundaries of creativity and production while ensuring we maintained manufacturability.”

The outer structure consists of two separate cartons joined with tabs, allowing it to open and close like a book. Set in an Old English-style font and accented with classic holiday imagery of pine trees and berries, the cover features intricate gold, white and red foil stamping, complemented by an offline spot UV finish and domed embossing on the title. SPC’s engineers and production team worked tirelessly to perfect the hinged design. When the paper began to tear during the testing stages, they ultimately chose to laminate it, ensuring durability and repeated use.

“There’s a lot of thought that went into that cover,” said Mills. “All those little details come together to give you that ‘aha’ moment.”

When opened, the outer carton transforms into a bookshelf, revealing 12 individual folding carton “books” on the righthand side. Each candy-filled carton is a small, five-panel box with a closure, printed and foil stamped to resemble classic novels while showcasing the company’s core business – folding carton packaging. Every “book” carries its own tongue-in-cheek, literary-inspired title, such as Paper Farm and Heidelberg the Great.

The lefthand side of the bookcase reveals a detailed, diecut dimensional scene of a person reading by the fire on a snowy night. The vignette is constructed from five layers. At the base, a metallic stock is printed with a snowy outdoor scene at the top and a glowing fire below. Above it, a diecut window on cream stock reveals the wintry background. A third layer of light green matte stock is diecut with a wreath, accented with red foil stamping, and the base layer of the fireplace. The fourth layer – royal green matte stock – adds additional diecut and foil stamped fireplace elements. The final layer features a man reading a book, accompanied by a dog and presents, digitally cut and foil stamped with red on black matte stock. The layered scene then was hand assembled and glued.

The dimensionality and exquisite detailing bring the cozy winter scene to life, pulling the viewer in. “It took eight to 10 iterations of this scene to get it right,” said Serbus.

Inside the kit, SPC also included an insert – with a cleverly placed diecut revealing the “book” cartons underneath –featuring a diecut bookmark, business card and holiday card. No detail was left unnoticed as the insert fits seamlessly into tabs in the outer carton while additional hidden tabs and flaps ensure none of the components shifted during transportation and delivery.

Printed on the company’s Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106-7+L with black, white and four Pantone colors, the piece was, as Mills noted, “meant to showcase our full capabilities – from high-quality printing to elevated embellishments to superior finishing.” The goal, he said, was for customers to see it and think, “If they can do something this complex, they can handle any box for us.”

In total, the award-winning Chronicles of SPC features five different specialty colored and metallic stocks from Fedrigoni and Mohawk, along with four different – pearl, red, gold and black – foils from KURZ. All embossing and foil dies were provided by Marbach America, and all pieces were foil stamped and embossed on SPC’s Brausse 1050 SFI. Most components were diecut on the Bobst Visioncut 106 LER 3.0, while select elements within the layered vignette – too intricate for traditional tooling – were digitally cut on a Zünd G3 cutting table. With the exception of the layered scene, components were folded and glued on the Bobst Expertfold.

SPC masterfully crafted over 700 kits, which have been used as a high-end sales and branding tool – demonstrating the company’s prowess in design, engineering and production.

“The ‘wow’ factor with this piece was definitely through the roof,” said Mills. “I think our customers were truly blown away. During a meeting with some high-end cosmetics manufacturers, our sales rep sat and looked through this kit with them for two hours – just going through every detail. It’s really accomplished our overall goal of showcasing our unbeatable capabilities, creativity and expertise.”