Press release | Paris Packaging Week celebrates packaging’s next generation of innovators as it reveals the ‘Future Leaders’ Class of 2024

Paris, 06/10/2023: Paris Packaging Week has today announced its first ‘Future Leaders’, a group of talented young professionals from across the packaging sector who embody the innovation, passion, and entrepreneurship of the industry’s newest generation.

The Class of 2024 represents the wide range of disciplines that make the packaging industry so vibrant, with representatives from packaging manufacturers, design agencies, and brands, as well as a mix of start-ups and well-established businesses. In addition, the group is truly international, with members from France, UK, South Africa, USA and the Netherlands.

Christelle Anya, Content & Community Director at Paris Packaging Week, said: “Paris Packaging Week’s mission is to give a vision of the future of packaging in the aerosol, beauty, luxury and drinks sectors.

“Our Future Leaders Class of 2024 do exactly this – they are a group of inspiring young professionals who are already impacting the future of the sector with creativity, energy, and real passion. They show that packaging has a bright future and I would like to congratulate them all.

The Future Leaders 2024 are:

• Maria Baranova, CSR Project Leader at French beauty packaging specialist Albéa

• Manush Barvar, Co-Founder of Brauzz. BV, the Belgium-based refillable cleaning product innovator

• Clémence Droit, Development Project Manager (Design Office) at French beauty packaging manufacturer Qualipac (Pochet Group)

• Léa Egger, CEO, and Julie Zimmerman, COO of Parisian cosmetics brand Pardi

• Laurine Friche, Material Science Expert at Albéa

• Hector Odendaal, Project Manager at South African packaging manufacturer Bowler Plastics

• Petros Palandijan, Founder & CEO of innovative refill service Good Filling LLC from the USA

• Tiffany Schollmeyer, CEO at TICO and co-founder of French skincare brand BYE

• Anna Jayne Withey, Midweight Creative Designer at Tangle Teezer, the British hair brush manufacturer

• Peipei Yang, Product Stewardship Analyst at Trivium Packaging, the global metal packaging group

They were selected from more than 40 nominations by a panel of three of the premium and luxury packaging sector’s top design and innovation experts; Emmanuelle Bonardi, Director of Operations at AmorePacific; Thierry de Baschmakoff, founder of the De Baschmakoff design agency; and GéraldMartines, founder of innovation consultancy In-Signes. The judges convened in Paris in early September at a meeting hosted by the luxury packaging supplier Jujin New York to decide the ten winners.

The Future Leaders will participate in panel discussions at the upcoming Paris Packaging Week, sharing their vision of the future direction of the sector and today’s challenges that they aim to overcome. Paris Packaging Week will release further insights from both the judges and the Future Leaders in the lead-up to the exhibition in January.

“This programme is, for me, a great cross-section of what young professionals envision for the future,” said de Baschmakoff of his judging duty. “My criteria for selection are simple – it must be a project unlike anything else being practiced in the industry today. It has resulted in an eclectic team – which is the best way to have diverse views and experiences that complement one another.”

Petros Palandijan, one of the Future Leaders and founder & CEO of Good Filling in the USA, was honoured by his selection, saying, “I’m excited to join the Paris Packaging Week Future Leaders program, as it’s a fantastic opportunity to share innovation throughout a global audience of brands and consumers. I look forward to learning about the needs of both brands and consumers and how Good Filling can best serve those needs in a refillable, sustainable, convenient and affordable format.”

Léa Egger, another Future Leader and CEO of Pardi, added, “We are very happy to be part of the Future Leaders Program. It allows us to meet industry experts and to represent young French brands who work hand in hand with suppliers every day to imagine the cosmetic products of tomorrow.“

Paris Packaging Week takes place on 17 & 18 January 2024 at Paris Expo, Porte de Versailles in Paris. The event features four industry-leading exhibitions designed to facilitate packaging innovation and business in specific related markets: ADF for aerosols and dispensing systems; PCD for the perfume, cosmetics and personal care markets; PLD for the premium and luxury drinks markets; and Packaging Première for luxury products such as fashion, watches and jewellery, homewear, fine food and confectionery.

More information on the Future Leaders can be found at https://www.parispackagingweek.com/future-leaders.

To register to attend the show, visit www.parispackagingweek.com.