Italy’s Minelli, which specializes in the manufacture of custom-made and standard wooden components, has launched mPackting, a new offer of low-carbon premium packaging solutions for the beauty industry.

Wood has already made its way into the packaging of cosmetic products. This material – which is appreciated both for its aesthetics and for its sustainability – is used for the production of caps, among other components. Minelli however believes that it is possible to go further, by using finishing techniques to transform the appearance of wooden components and thanks to innovative materials.

At Paris Packaging Week, last month, the Italian group debuted mPackting, their branch dedicated to full packaging solutions for the beauty industry.

Silva: a luxury standard range made with wood and mBlack

In collaboration with renowned designer, Thierry de Baschmakoff, mPackting has developed a standard yet luxurious range of skin care jars, lipsticks, compacts, and caps for skincare or perfumes.

Dubbed Silva, the range is fully refillable and recyclable. It is made of wood, cork, and of mBlack, Minelli’s proprietary biodegradable material derived from wood chips [1].

With universal refill systems, it can be coupled with a virtually infinite number of outer materials such as wood, metal, ceramics, or mBlack.

Wood thus proves to be a truly versatile solution as the classic grain and materiality of the product can even disappear from the eye if required.

“The design objective was to make wood disappear, thanks to mPackting’s expertise in woodworking and finishing. Everyone must interpret wood differently, as it is a noble material. The secret to luxury lies in the details, that’s why we achieved amazing results through customized decoration using different finishing techniques," explains Thierry de Baschmakoff.

Tango: a premium glass and wood lipstick

mPackting has collaborated with Italian luxury glass maker Bormioli Luigi to create a premium lipstick with a focus on sustainability and circularity. The packaging is made with a combination of durable and luxurious materials: cap in glass, base in wood, and ring in a 100% biobased and biodegradable biomaterial (could be made from mBlack too). All the components are fully customizable and Tango is refillable and separable for full recyclability.

A LegnaPin cap for Verescence’s Moon glass bottle

For the release of the new Moon lightweight bottle by Verescence, mPackting has provided its caps based on the LegnaPin concept (wood and cork).

LegnaPin is a mono-material cap made with FSC certified wood. Where the traditional plastic insert is replaced by one or three flexible cork pins. This is a universal solution that doesn’t require the development of new moulds for each new design. The wood cap also offers the advantage of design flexibility, since it can be machined to any desired shape.

Future outlook with Albéa

mPackting is able to provide components and full packaging for mascaras, lip gloss, lipsticks, eye-shadow, blush and virtually any other beauty applications. Packaging can be made refillable and all parts can be separable or assemblable in one click to avoid any glue. To illustrate this know-how, mPackting is currently developing products with Albéa that will include their bestseller lipstick mechanism, and their mascara offering. Products will be released towards the second half of 2023.

“The vision behind our innovations is to create a luxurious packaging yet sustainable in terms of resources and end-of-life options. Our packaging solutions are made of durable materials by local suppliers, they’re refillable and thought for a responsible end-of-life”, comments Paolo Minelli, Director of mPackting.

[1] mBlack is a biochar (bio charcoal), a black material resulting from the pyrolysis of biomass (in that case of wood chips). Thanks to its refractory stability, biochar is considered as a way to capture and store carbon. According to Minelli, MBlack can be 3D printed and injected like plastic.