To help make sending holiday presents through the mail easier, Purolator commissioned 13 Canadian artists to design holiday shipping boxes.
Purolator is a Canadian transportation company operating for the past 60 years.
In 2020, they began the holiday box campaign, commissioning artists from every Canadian province to design a box that showed what the holidays meant to them.
“It was such a big hit that we decided to do it again this year,” said Laurie Weston, senior director of retail at Purolator.
In preparation for the campaign, Purolator reached out to last year’s artists and asked them to nominate people to design the boxes for this year. From there, the 13 artists were chosen.
“A lot of them are younger. I think that they’re incredibly talented and it’s a way to showcase their art all around the world,” said Weston.
She said the boxes make delivering a pretty, already-wrapped gift through the mail easier. The already-designed boxes remove the step of wrapping or the risk of the wrapping paper getting ruined in the post.
“Delivering a loved one’s gift in a unique decorative type of packaging adds a personal touch as opposed to just a regular brown box,” said Weston. “It’s a way to showcase with family and friends a touch of Canada. Especially during the time when a lot of people are still not travelling.”
Kate Anfilova was the artist chosen for New Brunswick. She prefers to combine digital tools with traditional materials for her illustrations and tends to draw inspiration from nature.
“We loved her work. It’s awesome. Her box is beautiful. Very whimsical,” said Weston.
Anfliova said she was so happy when she received the call from Purolator. She knew she wanted to make something that would create a sense of celebration.
“I was inspired immediately. That picture of the box came to my mind almost immediately, so it was a really interesting project for me,” said Anfilova.
The theme for the entire campaign was “light up the holidays.” Anfilova created a design which pictured fireworks overtop the Hopewell Rocks.
“I hope that people will feel happy and festive and comfort when watching fireworks and clear starry skies with their loved one,” she said.
The process for creating the boxes involved many steps. Anfilova said the process requires sketching, referencing, finding colour schemes, line work and communicating with Purolator. She found the most complicated step to be the initial sketch.
In the end, she loves the final product.
“I feel excited. It’s always incredible. That feeling when you see your pictures come to life, it’s almost like magic,” said Anfilova.
After the success of last year’s campaign, Weston anticipates an equally successful holiday season this year.
“I would love to see us continue this. I think it’s a really nice tradition. There’s no guarantees, but I think it’s going to become something where people just look forward to seeing it,” said Weston.
