Cardboard Pillow Boxes.

The shape comes entirely from curved score lines pressed into one flat sheet. Fold the sheet along its seam, push in the curved ends and the box forms, with no glue or tape anywhere.

Because nothing is glued, the boxes leave us completely flat and freight stays cheap. Your team can form them by hand in a few seconds each at the packing table.

The radius of the curved score sets the bulge. A tighter radius gives a fuller, more dramatic pillow, and a gentler one reads flatter and closer to an envelope. We set it on the cutting die, so it gets agreed at the dieline stage.

Board caliper matters just as much. Our standard is 18 to 24pt SBS, which holds the curve without sagging. Thinner stock lets the faces flatten out once the box has been handled a few times.

Pick coated SBS when your brand colours have to print accurately or the design uses photography. Kraft gives a natural, handmade feel, but its brown base shifts every colour you print on it.

Coloured stocks and metallised board are options too. They carry the colour in the sheet itself, which suits event palettes and festive gifting. For a recycled story we can run grades with post-consumer content.

Yes, the full specialty menu is available on this box, including foil, embossing, spot UV and matte, gloss or soft-touch lamination. A pillow face has less flat area than a folding carton, so small marks and accents tend to work better than large solid areas.

A small foil logo on a matte laminated face gives a lot of impact for very little foil, because the metal catches light as the curve turns in the hand.

The three sizes we see most are 4 × 3 × 1, 6 × 4 × 1.5 and 9 × 6 × 2 inches, and we cut custom sizes to order. Length and width are measured on the flat face, and depth is the thickness at the middle of the bulge.

Size to the contents with room to spare. An overfilled pillow pushes its ends open and the shape collapses, and that shows immediately on a counter.

You can order from 500 pieces, and the cost per box falls as the quantity goes up. Five hundred covers a product launch, a season of gift wrapping or a batch of event favours for most small brands.

We send the dieline for your chosen size free of charge, so your designer can place artwork on the curve accurately from the start.

Standard production is 7 to 10 business days after artwork sign-off. If a launch date is close, rush production runs in 5 to 7 business days.

Samples take 5 to 7 business days as well, and we'd suggest filling one with the real item to confirm the curve holds. The fee you pay for the sample is credited back against the bulk order.

For light items going in a padded envelope, it can travel as it is. Anything that needs real protection is better packed as a presentation box inside a corrugated mailer, since the curved faces flex under pressure in a way a square carton doesn't.

Pillow boxes also nest awkwardly in shipping cartons compared with flat-sided boxes, so plan for some void fill when you pack several together.