Wooden boxes for Marve’s albums

The project

Marve, an artisan bookbinding cooperative making albums for professional photographers, wanted packaging that would reflect the quality of its work and distinguish its range. The cooperative commissioned us to design and manufacture a premium wooden box, with strength and ease of assembly as requirements of the brief.

We developed two box sizes for Marve’s albums and a system that could be stored flat before assembly. Archicercle’s contribution covered the packaging design, the development of its components and joints, and manufacture.

The box consists of a flexible outer skin, a base and a lid with Marve’s die-cut logo. Flat surfaces combine with a rounded rectangular outline, while the cut-out logo incorporates the cooperative’s identity into the lid itself.

The construction centres on the interior. Connecting pieces interlock the base, lid and outer skin while defining a rectangular space that holds the album through a fitted connection. The internal components therefore both connect the box and locate its contents.

The box is assembled without adhesives. The development aimed to optimise material use and reduce assembly time, with flat storage remaining central to the proposal. The result is packaging manufactured in two sizes, with a structure developed around holding the album, assembly and storage.

Internal components connect the outer shell and define the space into which the album fits.

Processes and materials: fabrication services · available materials · studio machinery.