Metal packaging shone at the London Packaging Week Innovation Awards, with cans taking prizes in several categories.
The overall winner was the Cool>Can, developed by James Vyse at his company DeltaH Innovations.
The patented technology is activated by a button on the bottom module that triggers an endothermic reaction. Visitors were impressed by the speed at which the can cools in approximately 60 seconds, and which then lasts for around 40 minutes.
Vyse said the stand had attracted a lot of interest from fillers and canmakers. Currently, the cans are made by DeltaH Innovations at its base in South Wales.
Design engineer Jake Inglis offered an insight into the mechanisms in the can. He redesigned the base, arms and top brackets, all constructed from polymer. Inglis said: “We designed the mechanisms and produced a couple of components.”
He said the beverage filler sends a filled pre-seamed 250ml can. “We then insert it into the 500ml can after we place our valve in the base. Punch through the can and push our valve in the base. Then we put our top component on to secure the inner can.”
He said the module which holds the reservoir of water is then attached and screwed in with a bayonet system.
He was delighted at the win: “What more can you ask? It’s our first time exhibiting here. The fact we’ve done so well and won awards and we’ve had very positive conversations over the past two days.”
Inglis said the company was already taking orders with MOQs at 150,000: “So, now we’re going to get our heads down again, and get cracking with that as it comes to fruition next year.”
In the Food, Consumer and Homeware category, Spice Kitchen won first place in the Seasonal Food and Gifting section. The award-winning premium feasting kits combine four spice blends in decorated tinplate containers, recipe cards, a measuring spoon and shopping list to create a complete, giftable cook-at-home meal.
Sanjay Aggarwal, who picked up the trophy, commented: “We needed the packaging to be practical, durable and visually distinctive, while providing the right protection for the spice blends and accompanying materials inside. The tin also needed to feel special enough to give as a gift, work well on a retail shelf and be something customers would want to keep and reuse.”
Aggarwal added that the metal packaging used for Spice Kitchen products was central to the brand: “The packaging plays an enormous role. Online, customers cannot pick up a product or smell the spices, so the imagery and presentation have to communicate the experience immediately. The Feasting Kits have a strong, colourful identity that helps them stand out on screen and gives customers a real sense of discovery and occasion.
“On the shelf, the tins give us presence and make the kits feel substantial and giftable. They also reflect something that has always mattered to Spice Kitchen: creating packaging that becomes part of the product rather than something that is simply thrown away. Our customers often keep and reuse our tins, so they continue to carry the Spice Kitchen name in people’s homes long after the spices have been enjoyed.”
In the same category, Pirlo won for its Kizandy Sugar-free Sours & Mini Mints in Slip-Lid Designer Tins.
Key account manager at Pirlo Simeon Boyanov, who took on the Kizandy project, was delighted by the win and described the cold press process to emboss and print the lid of the tinplate containers.
“Developing the embossing for this brand was a really difficult process because it changed the form of the metal.”
He said with tests took almost a year, as special tooling had to be developed to avoid changing the form of the lip, as the embossing stretched the metal, and the form needed to be “perfect, so that it could be closed perfectly”.
Olaf Van Kuik, key account manager at Pirlo, added: “The embossing was so deep and that’s the main reason we sent it in for the innovation.
“It’s precise work, millimetre work, on the stamping machine and if you go too deep or shallow, the lines of print won’t fit.”
He pointed out “the nice click” on closing the container, made with great attention to detail.
In the Drinks category, The Green One – a non-alcoholic botanical drink in a 250ml Sleek can won in the Non-Alcoholic Drinks (£30 or under). While in the Innovation Gallery, M&S Continental beer range won for can design.
Updated 23 September 2026
