Homegrown is a packaging project created to address the issue of sustainable/reusable packaging in utilized for produce. 

Using strawberries as its pilot product, Homegrown features aesthetically pleasing container design using compostable material made of recycled cardboard embedded with seed material that offers material a second life in a garden as wildflowers.

Homegrown produce is intended to be sold at 

local Farmer’s Markets as giftable product, incentivizing consumers to shop locally and support small agricultural businesses while being environmentally conscientious. 

Traditional strawberry produce packaging in grocery stores is rectangular and maximizes the efficiency of the amount of product that can be packed into each box of fruit. It is also often made of plastic because it is durable to protect the fragile bodies of the fruit. It also often has holes to allow for drainage of water and moisture.

With a goal of pleasing aesthetic and functionality balanced with conscientious material choices, I strived to create a package design that would be eye-catching to consumers.

I took aesthetic inspiration from packaging for giftable chocolate covered strawberries, which often has fancier elements on its packaging such as shaped cutouts on the boxes. 

I also played with the idea of having a tube shaped package as an unconventional concept, which in the prototyping phase turned out to decreased airflow for the fruit, which made them last longer, but took away the volume efficiency factor. causing less product to be able to fit into the package. 

The final product was a hexagonal shaped box with a clamshell lid. The strawberries would be bagged in a net to allow for easy removal for rinsing. Graphics for the package were drawn digitally in Illustrator and printed on recycled paper embedded with wildflower seeds to emulate the compostable nature of the box.