The figure is a Day of the Dead character, so the altar handed me the form. A home altar is already a tiered stage with a backdrop and a floor, which turns the whole pack into one hinge problem instead of a new object to invent.
Papel picado gave the surface language and the palette came with it: marigold, cobalt, magenta and lime, the colours of the festival. Holding them on black is what keeps the chroma, so the ground stayed black rather than the kraft brown packaging usually defaults to.
Hover a swatch for where it comes from.
Everything comes off one cross-shaped net drawn four ways: plain cube, printed cube, fan leaves, arched backdrop, with every fold line on the same grid so the panels stack flush when it shuts. Each panel is black card with the picado pierced out by knife, then backed with a flat colour sheet, so the pattern is lit by the paper behind it instead of printed on top, and the fan changes colour as it opens.
The figure was drawn as variations, built in clay and painted by hand before any panel was cut. Her skirt sets the footprint of the plinth and her hat sets the height of the arch, so the pack is dimensioned from the object rather than the object squeezed into a box.
The base folds up from the same net as the walls, so there is no separate insert to align and no glue joint left visible once the box is open. It doubles as the plinth the figure stands on, and the print wraps over the fold so the floor under her has no seam.
The lid drops forward into the plinth, the leaves fan out behind, the arch stands up carrying the title. Nothing is removed and nothing is thrown away, and the whole thing reverses in one move, which was the test I cared about most: a collector should be able to put the altar away without losing a piece of it.