awards 
Wellington based Charta Packaging has taken two top international awards at prestigious competitions in both Australia and the US for the innovative use of metallic and waterproof inks. The company has won gold and silver medals at the Australasian and American FTA (Flexo Technical Association) Awards, which attract global entries from firms producing packaging and cartons.

Charta won the gold medal in both competitions for its “Red Snapper Pack” and silver in both for the “Blue Oyster Pack”. The snapper carton featured the use of waterproof agents in the ink and the oyster carton used metallic inks to achieve a shimmering effect similar to an oyster shell.

Each print required significant developmental work to get the inks to the standard required on the cartons.

Charta technical manager Maxine Edwards says Charta decided to enter the competitions as a benchmarking exercise after doing so well last year at the NZ Pride In Print Awards.

“Pride In Print was so good for us in terms of rewarding our innovation and giving us a marketing advantage, so we thought ‘Are we just good here, or are we good on the international stage?’

“we submitted our top two entries into the Australian awards, and won. This spurred us on to enter the American awards to see what they thought of our print, and they endorsed the New Zealand and Australian judges’ decisions.”