Design Futures - Sheffield Hallam's award-winning design consultancy - prides itself on its ability to come up with innovative packaging solutions, something which was put to the test recently with a challenging brief from Swedish paper manufacturer Billerud.

One of the largest paper manufacturers in Europe, Billerud had come up with an exciting new material - a 100 per cent paper product which has all the flexibility of plastic - and they approached Design Futures to help them come up with some ideas about how to put it to use in some new ways of packaging.

'We were delighted to take on this brief because it gave us exactly the sort of challenge we love,' said creative director John Kirkby. 'This is a very exciting material because it is totally recyclable and therefore environmentally friendly, but it can be formed like plastic, meaning it offers users the best of both worlds.'

The team at Design Futures put their heads together and came up with more than 50 ideas of how the new material could be used, including blister packaging for cosmetics, new ways of packaging batteries and some decorative homeware, to name just a few.

'One of the most intriguing features of the new material is that it's possible to form a raised surface pattern which gives it great potential from a decorative point of view,' said John. 'This increases the opportunity to create tactile packaging which encourages customers to pick up off the shelf. The material also clearly has potential to be used in the pharmaceutical industry in packaging for the visually impaired, for example.'

The relationship between Design Futures and Billerud is an unusual one - in that Design Futures usually work with the packaging producer or retail end-user, rather than the material manufacturer - but it's obviously one that works, with both parties delighted with the way things have come together.

'Design Futures have been absolutely fantastic to work with and the ideas they have come up with are world class,' said Darren Thomas, Billerud's sales manager.

'We've been showing the ideas to some of our major clients and they've really enabled us to raise our profile within the industry. It's also helped us to strengthen our relationship with our packaging converters, and we've patented the new ideas.

'Design Futures have been more than just a design agency. They've gone beyond the call of duty and have come up with ideas way beyond the scope of the original brief. I'd recommend that anyone looking to work with a design agency look at Design Futures first!'

To find out how Design Futures could help you with your design challenges, visit www.designfuturesgroup.com