From Shoebox to Tea Box: The Same Honeycomb Board, Two World Awards

Professor Yu Guang's Tianchao 113 Shoebox Won WorldStar 2023

His High Mountain Tea box won iF 2024. Same material, same designer, same cutting technology — a signal that China's all-paper packaging has arrived on the world stage.

Two Awards, One Vision

Professor Yu Guang is one of China's leading packaging design educators. His Tianchao 113 shoebox — made entirely from honeycomb board, no plastic, no foam — won the WorldStar Packaging Award 2023. One year later, his High Mountain Tea box won the iF Design Award 2024.

Both awards recognize the same innovation: using honeycomb board as the sole structural material, with precision-cut interlocking joints that eliminate the need for adhesive.

The Cutting Technology Behind the Awards

Honeycomb board is notoriously difficult to cut precisely. The hexagonal cell structure collapses under pressure, creating ragged edges. Traditional steel rule dies crush the cells. Laser cutting burns the paper fibers.

The ZCCUTTER ZCRA digital cold cutting system solves this with an oscillating blade that shears through the honeycomb without crushing — achieving ±0.1mm precision on fold lines and cut edges, even on 15-30mm thick board.

This precision is what makes glue-free interlocking structures possible. Every tab must fit its slot within 0.2mm tolerance — otherwise the box either won't assemble or won't hold its shape.

What This Means for the Industry

Two international design awards in two years, both using the same material and cutting technology, is not coincidence. It signals that:

• All-paper packaging has reached world-class quality
• Digital cold cutting enables designs that were previously impossible
• Chinese packaging design is competing at the highest global level

For designers and brands exploring sustainable packaging: the technology is ready. The ZCRA series handles honeycomb board from 3mm to 30mm, making it suitable for everything from luxury gift boxes to industrial shipping containers.

🏆 Award-winning honeycomb packaging? The ZCRA digital cutting system enables the precision required for glue-free, all-paper structures.

This article was written in Chinese by me, then translated into English by AI. Every word is mine — AI spoke on my behalf, not for me. Humans handle the warmth. AI handles the breadth.

Clear Cut.
Zou Zhihua
Founder, ZCCUTTER | 臻彩科技
Dongguan, China | November 2026

Need precision cutting for your materials? Send us your samples and CAD files. We'll cut them for free and send you microscopic images of the cut surfaces, dimensional data, and process parameters together.
→ Contact Us