London Packaging Week puts finishing touches on record-breaking conference agenda

Organisers have expanded the speaker line-up beyond the 85-mark for the first time, creating what they believe will be the most ambitious and impactful programme in the event’s 15-year history.

London Packaging Week today announced a major strengthening of its conference programme, with organisers confident that the 2025 edition will deliver the most significant agenda in the event’s 15-year history. Organisers have added 27 new speakers to the agenda, taking the total line-up beyond a record-breaking 85 participants and reinforcing London Packaging Week as the UK’s leading platform for packaging innovation, insight and inspiration.

Returning to Excel London on 15 & 16 October 2025, the enhanced programme spans the Luxury, Beauty & Drinks and Food & Consumer stages, reflecting the sector’s rapidly evolving commercial and regulatory environment, and will be accessible free of charge with complimentary visitor passes, which are in high demand.

The Food & Consumer stage will welcome David Bellamy, Head of Packaging Policy at the Food & Drink Federation; Amit Arora, Design Manager – Sustainability at Haleon; Morgan Blaydes, Packaging Engineering Program Manager at Google; Martin Kersh, Co-CEO of The Packaging Federation; and Lucy Burgess, Strategy Director at Touch Design Agency. Arora, Blaydes, Kersh and Burgess will also join forces for an all-new discussion, “Inclusive by Design: Transforming packaging for all consumers,” exploring real-world innovations, consumer insights and the commercial impact of accessible design.

On the Beauty & Drinks stage, Natalia Agathou, Sustainability Director at L’Oréal UK & Ireland, will join Kim Ridgeway, Head of Packaging Innovation at Trinny London, and Nick Vaus, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Free the Birds, for a brand-new panel titled “Built for Better: Packaging that builds consumer trust.” This brand-new session, moderated by Paul Finch, Co-Founder of Growth Studio, will spotlight Lucy Edwards and Emily Caine from TikTok Shop. Titled “The Underdog Advantage: Breaking beauty’s expensive habits,” the panel will explore how emerging founders in the UK beauty industry can scale from product to brand.

The Drinks programme will also now feature Sophia Waywell, Innovation Manager at The Chivas Brothers, who joins the “Form, Feel, Function: Where human insights meet design” discussion, and Michal Szcygiel, Sales Director – Beverage Division at Berlin Packaging, will appear in a session with Renais Gin Founder Alex Watson, while Amabile Guglielmino-Brady, Global Head of Communications, Culture & Connections at Diageo, will lead her own talk on Tanqueray Gin.

Luxury content is also set to expand, with Claire Domergue of Luxus + moderating a high-level discussion featuring Vincent Villeger of Villeger, Davide Cerrato, CEO of Bremont Watches, and Freddie Webb, Founding Partner and Creative Director at Father. Another highlight, “Brands to Watch: Businesses blowing up,” will showcase independent luxury founders including Daisy Schaffer of DaisyFace, Kristina Miseviciute of Aroma Theory and Gemma Wakeham of Two Drifters, moderated by Mark Paton of Here. The Walpole programme strengthens further with Helen Hughes, Sustainability Director at Design Bridge & Partners, Aastha Sethi, Head of Sustainability at Boodles, and Alex Hilton, Policy Director at beyond.ly, while Joanne Milner, Chairman of Garrards, and Marieke Hammes, Head of Operations & Sustainability at Canned Wine Co, join a 45-minite session titled “Luxury in Every Layer: The sustainability balancing act”.

Sponsors Sonoco and DCA Design International will headline their own thought-provoking sessions. Sonoco will present “Infiltrating the Supply Chain: Cutting risk, not corners in beauty manufacturing,” featuring Dawn Watson, Supply Chain Director UK & Aerosols, and Aidan Ruddock, Commercial Director UK, alongside “Design. Validate. Deliver: Smarter design processes without production disruption” with Matthew Brimble, New Product Development Manager Promotional Packaging, and Lyell Watson, Product Packaging and Graphic Designer. DCA Design International will take to the Luxury Stage with “The luxury of time: Sustainability through longevity,” where Senior Design Manager Dai Sanders will share the company’s PAST™ framework for creating premium, long-lasting experiences.

Casey McHugh, Conference & Community Manager – UK & Global at Easyfairs, said: Packaging is at the centre of some of the biggest commercial and cultural shifts our industry has ever seen—from accessibility to supply-chain resilience and a new era of sustainable luxury. This year, we’ve curated an agenda that reflects those shifts with extraordinary depth and practical insight. With high-profile additions across beauty, drinks, FMCG and luxury - and new spotlight sessions for emerging founders and inclusion in design - we believe this could be our most significant conference programme in 15 years.

London Packaging Week 2025 will showcase innovations, materials, and solutions from hundreds of suppliers and thousands of packaging examples alongside the two-day conference and the London Packaging Week Innovation Awards. Registration for complimentary visitor passes and VIP access remains open.