中文Earlier this year in Sofia, INKPRESSION and FESPA Bulgaria hosted a masterclass led by Yanko Djarov, who revealed the creative and production process behind the most awarded packaging project in the history of Bulgarian design. The subject was the LEVSKI 1968 Packaging Experience — a collector’s box created for football club Levski Sofia’s championship-winning match in 1968 and its legendary player Georgi Asparuhov, known as “Gundi.” The session showed how high-end finishing, structural design and digital interaction combine to create packaging that wins internationally and commands a price far above its material cost.
Djarov is a designer with deep branding and packaging experience and the founder of INKPRESSION — the first and only Bulgarian studio to receive a Red Dot Design Award in the Brands and Communication Design category. That credential gave the masterclass unusual authority: here was a practitioner explaining, step by step, how an award-winning object is actually made, not just styled, and why each finishing choice was tied to a commercial and emotional objective rather than decoration for its own sake or a brief that asked only for a logo on a box.
The commemorative box holds a reproduction of Gundi’s 1968 match shirt, an acrylic quote plaque, an autographed and numbered football card, a folded poster with an augmented-reality filter for social media, and a 3D hot-foiled replica of the 1968 trophy. It is built from uncoated heavy stock and hot-foiled in two colours using gold and transparent foils, with embossed round patterns and a tiered, stadium-like construction. Beyond Red Dot, the project also collected honours from the Pentawards and the MUSE Design Awards, making it a rare triple-crowned piece in the regional market and a reference point for aspiring designers.
During the masterclass, Djarov presented the complete journey — from the first sketch and prototype through to the finished product reaching a wider audience. Participants gained insight into how packaging of this scale is developed and explored the different stages of the creative and production process through real examples. INKPRESSION has been a member of FESPA Bulgaria since 2020, and the event advanced the shared mission of bringing real-world experience, knowledge and inspiration to the Bulgarian design community. Places were limited and attendance was free, with participants carefully selected to maximise the value of the hands-on teaching and mentorship.
The technical lessons are the most transferable. Hot foiling in two colours on uncoated board demands precise pressure and temperature control to avoid cracking or uneven transfer. Three-dimensional embossing must be engineered so the stadium tiers read clearly without crushing the substrate. The AR element — a poster that triggers a social-media filter — shows how physical packaging now extends into digital engagement, giving buyers a reason to share. None of these effects is decorative only; each is a deliberate device for perceived value, and together they justify a premium price point that flat printing could never command in a crowded gifting market where unboxing is part of the experience.
For the finishing industry, the case study is a showcase for what modern post-press can achieve. A box of this complexity relies on the same foil, embossing and structural skills that commercial printers can apply to premium spirits, cosmetics and limited-edition products. FESPA Bulgaria’s decision to teach it to young designers is strategic: it grows the local talent pool that will specify and produce such work, strengthening the regional print and finishing ecosystem and giving Bulgarian studios a credible claim to world-class capability that can win export business from brands elsewhere in Europe.
The broader message is that luxury packaging is increasingly a multidisciplinary craft. It sits at the intersection of graphic design, structural engineering, print finishing and digital experience. Studios that master the combination — and can explain it, as Djarov did — position themselves for the prestige commissions that command premium margins. Awards like Red Dot and Pentawards then compound the advantage by signalling capability to global brand owners, who routinely use such honours as a shortlist filter when selecting design and production partners for high-value launches. Even smaller shops can borrow the playbook: a considered structure, restrained foil, and one digital hook can lift a standard carton into a keepsake worth photographing and sharing.
The commercial lesson extends beyond football memorabilia. Limited-edition packaging of this kind follows the same logic as luxury spirits and cosmetics: the box is part of the product, and its tactility is a measurable component of willingness to pay. A collector who buys the LEVSKI 1968 box is purchasing memory, craft and status as much as cardboard and foil. Studios that internalise that principle can apply it to any premium brief — a numbered anniversary edition, a gift-with-purchase, a conference keepsake — where the unboxing itself is the marketing. Djarov’s masterclass made the point that finishing choices should be justified by the emotion they create, not merely by the techniques available, a discipline that separates commemoration from commodity.
For FESPA Bulgaria, showcasing such work is also a recruitment tool. By opening the process to selected young designers, the association seeds the next generation of finishing talent in a region where high-value print is still building its reputation. The masterclass format — limited places, hands-on, taught by an award winner — turns a one-off project into a reusable lesson for the whole community, multiplying the impact of a single Red Dot well beyond the trophy cabinet.
