Inspired by neck ruffles popular during the Renaissance period (not a sentence I ever thought I’d type!), Gorgiera is an ingenious combination of packaging and display unit. To get around the waste usually associated with packaging, Macarena Pollock has created a second life for this fruit casing. It’s made from waterproof paper, more commonly used for navigation charts and comes flat packed.
Unfolding it one way creates a cocoon for four pieces of fruit, with enough flexibility to absorb any bumps and protect the fruit, but maintaining visibility, so you can see what’s inside. Turn it upside-down and inside out and you have a very pretty fruit stand to keep your apples on until you eat them. I love how much thought has gone into this project. If you want to reduce waste, the obvious thing to do is reduce the amount of material that goes into things that are thrown away.
Macarena has taken a different approach and challenged whether packaging needs to be thrown away at all. By giving it another purpose, she has potentially saved it from the bin altogether. Macarena is a Chilean designer, listed as one of ‘10 New Designers’ by Chile’s VD magazine, with work on display at San Francisco’s MOMA.
Photograph © Katie Treggiden
Photograph © Katie Treggiden
