Close×

A viral meme satirising Australian politics has given Boxer & Co packaging design agency owner Gwen Blake the chance to launch a new business virtually overnight.

It started when she created an image of a tote bag with the words "Ban the single-use prime minister" on it.

Boxer & Co's Gwen Blake with the bags, ready to ship. Image supplied.
Boxer & Co's Gwen Blake with the bags, ready to ship. Image supplied.

"I never had any intention to make it," she told Fairfax Media.

"Then the post got shared like a zillion times, and everyone was asking for the bag. So I've created a business overnight."

Blake is the co-owner of Sydney packaging and design company Boxer & Co, a brand and packaging agency which she co-founded with creative director Mark Haygarth.

It counts Nestle, SunRice and Woolworths, and a host of entrepreneurs, as its clients.

Blake, who recently spoke at the New Frontiers in Packaging Print Print 21+PKN LIVE event in Sydney, said she already had the knowledge she needed to start the business, which she has called Sans Sheriff.

She has made merchandise in the past, and so she decided to use that experience and make the bags available to the public via online marketplace Etsy.

She said the business turned over more than $30,000 in its first three days.

Blake said the bags have already been copied by another company, but she has a trademark lawyer on-side now.

While Sans Sheriff will continue, she said she would probably close orders for the bags this week.

"That said, things clearly change fast around here!" she said.

Food & Drink Business

Wide Open Agriculture (WOA) will wind down its German production facility immediately and shift to a contract manufacturing model, as the ASX‑listed lupin ingredients company looks to cut costs and scale more efficiently.

Select Harvests has appointed Kristina Hermanson as the company’s new managing director and CEO, effective from 3 August. She takes over from David Surveyor, who has been in the role since February 2023, and will finish on 31 July.

Lactalis Australia has paid $59,400 in penalties after the ACCC issued it with three infringement notices for alleged misleading labelling – the latest in a string of food companies to be hit with penalties over the past two months.