The packaging for reMarkable 2 is entirely made from paper, a first for screen products

ReMarkable makes the world’s thinnest tablet at 4.7mm and aims to replace paper notes and printed documents with a paper-feel digital notebook. So it seems apt that it’s now the first screen product to completely remove plastic from its packaging, with the reMarkable 2 tablets wrapped entirely in paper. Norwegian packaging studio Goods has worked closely with the brand to make this innovation possible, and designed a slick, minimalist box to reflect the sensibilities of the coveted product, which is free of notifications, social media and email.

To clearly communicate the product, the packaging is “used as a canvas” the studio explains, to emboss the product’s silhouette at 1:1 scale “for a tangible and tactile experience”. The entire package is recyclable worldwide as paper, from the custom-moulded pulp as a device tray to the die-cut, transparent paper wrapping, replacing the industry-standard antistatic plastic film. The new packaging is also half the size of the previous version, reducing material use, production cost and the amount of air in shipping –  making transport more efficient.

Goods creative director Sandro Kvernmo tells It’s Nice That that the brief asked for the box to depict the product’s features, values and quality while lowering the carbon footprint. The previous packaging included laminated paper, fabric and metal and plastic foam, so the designers aimed to translate all these elements to paper materials. “ReMarkable started out as a crowdfunded tech product that was sold exclusively online, but now also needed to take the step into physical retail with everything that comes with that, from shelf impact and navigation, to how they are to touch, feel and communicate in-store,” Kvernmo explains. With the brand aiming to make its product the digital notepad that feels the most like paper, it seemed a no-brainer to make the packaging follow suit. “Packaging is such a tactile experience so the textures of the materials had to match that,” he says.

For the Goods studio, the project feels like a culmination of its missions in aesthetics and ethics, adds Kvernmo. “Our insights from packaging tech has given us some really cool new opportunities within this space.” Hence the studio is now working on an open-source framework that will live online to document and share its knowledge in this area of working with sustainable packaging solutions, materials and processes.