Brands face growing demands on packaging – Metsä Board rethinks packaging development with a new design studio in Milan
Metsä Board Corporation press release 02.07.2026
- Metsä Board opens a new packaging design studio in Milan, Italy, on 2 July to accelerate packaging development with customers, especially in its key European markets.
- The new studio enables earlier and closer collaboration between Metsä Board and its customers, allowing joint testing and refinement to bring real-world-ready packaging solutions faster.
- By combining Metsä Board’s premium fresh fibre-based materials, design expertise and data-driven insights, the studio helps brands meet increasing sustainability, performance and regulatory requirements.
Packaging is no longer just about protection and logistics. Brands are under increasing pressure to reduce material use, replace fossil-based materials, meet tightening regulations and still deliver strong shelf impact. At the same time, expectations for speed have fundamentally changed: solutions must be developed faster, with greater certainty around performance, recyclability and compliance.
Metsä Board, a leading European producer of fresh fibre paperboards and part of Metsä Group, is addressing this shift with a new design studio in Milan, opened on 2 July. Bringing together design, material expertise and data-driven insights, it enables customers to develop packaging solutions that are more efficient and fit to their requirements.
"Milan offers a unique combination of a strong packaging ecosystem and a world-class design environment. Being there allows us to work more closely with our customers and strengthen collaboration across key European markets,” says Erja Hyrsky, SVP Commercial Operations.
By combining AI-supported design, simulation possibilities and material expertise, solutions can be explored and tested much earlier in the process, reducing uncertainty, accelerating decision-making and shortening development cycles.
“Our customers don’t just need new packaging ideas – they need solutions that are validated for actual use conditions, and they need them faster than ever. By combining design, materials and data, we can move from concept to validated solution much earlier, with greater confidence,” says Erja Hyrsky.
Co-creating packaging for real-world performance
The Milan studio is built for a new way of working. Instead of sequential development, design, materials and performance are advanced in parallel, making it possible to improve material efficiency while maintaining performance requirements.
“Instead of developing solutions in isolation, we can test and refine them together, making sure they are ready for market introduction much earlier,” says Ilkka Harju, Packaging Services Director. “For brands in segments such as food, pharma and beauty, where packaging plays a critical role both functionally and commercially, this integrated approach is becoming essential.”
For further information:
Marjo Halonen, VP, Marketing, Communications and Sustainability, Metsä Board
Mobile: +358 50 598 7046
Email: marjo.halonen@metsagroup.com
Metsä Board
metsagroup.com/metsaboard
Metsä Board is a producer of lightweight and high-quality folding boxboards, foodservice boards and white kraftliners. The fresh wood fibres we use in our products are a renewable and recyclable resource, that can be traced back to Northern European forests. We aim to phase out the use of fossil energy in our production by 2030. We promote a culture of diversity, equality and inclusion. Metsä Board’s shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki.
In 2025, our sales totalled EUR 1.8 billion, and we employ about 1,900 people. Metsä Board is part of Metsä Group, whose parent company Metsäliitto Cooperative is owned by approximately 90,000 Finnish forest owners. The sales of the whole Metsä Group were EUR 5.8 billion.
