• Pentawards judges described Voice's gold prize-winning pack design for Rio Coffee as “category breaking, yet engaging”.
    Pentawards judges described Voice's gold prize-winning pack design for Rio Coffee as “category breaking, yet engaging”.
Close×

Adelaide design agency Voice led the Australian results at this year's international Pentawards for packaging design, winning the country's sole gold award for its work on behalf Rio Coffee.

Pentaward judge, Raf De Geyter of Procter & Gamble's Belgian subsidiary, described Voice's work on behalf of the artisan coffee brand as using: “category breaking design codes, yet very relevant and engaging”.

Voice's pack design, for 250g, 500g and 1kg bags of Rio Coffee, was the gold award winner in the coffee and tea section of the Pentawards' beverage category.

The agency describes its pack design for Rio as: “Simple and clean in appearance, a welcome change in any supermarket coffee aisle, yet it speaks strongly through intriguing imagery, telling the consumer exactly what to expect in their cup.”

Voice also took out a silver Pentaward in the wines section of the beverages category for its labelling for Mclaren Vale, South Australia, wine brand Hither & Yon.

Voice director Scott Carslake told PKN this year's success improved on its already impressive achievement at last year's Pentawards, where the agency had gained a silver and bronze award.

“We were delighted by the news. To get recognition from the sort of prize pool that the Pentawards attracts is a great honour,” he said.

“If you are fortunate enough to do a packaging project for a really good client, you get the opportunity to enter awards like these, and in the past year we've been lucky to have some projects that were just a really good fit for what our studio strives to do.”

Other Australian winners in the Pentawards were: Asprey Creative of Melbourne, which gained a silver award in the food category for its cereal packaging on behalf of Monster Health Food Co; and Dessein of Perth, which garnered two awards, both in the other markets category – a silver for Q Brand electronic cigarettes and a bronze for self-promotional material celebrating the agency's quarter century anniversary.

Food & Drink Business

Australian food processors are facing a growing commercial squeeze as major retail and foodservice customers want stronger environmental credentials from suppliers, while continuing to push hard on price. New modelling from the Australian Meat Processor Corporation (AMPC) shows Australia’s red meat processing sector could achieve net zero emissions by 2045 without sacrificing profitability.

Australian investment firm, Tundra Capital, has led a $2.4 million Series A raise for deep-tech company, N&E Innovations. The Singaporean company turns discarded food waste into an edible antimicrobial that can help fresh produce last up to four times longer.

Circana retail scan data shows sales of bottles of shiraz under $10, fell 8.3 per cent over the past year, but sales above $35 grew 6.9 per cent. According to the data, shiraz accounts for two in every five dollars spent on bottled red wine in Australia, which covers the year to 4 October 2026.