Community & Business
11 June, 2025
Fruit boxes transformed
FRUIT boxes displaying Skybury papaya will be turned into works of art to attract consumers at supermarkets across Australia, with artists vying to have their work selected for the novel billboard.
Skybury General Manager Candy MacLaughlin and Caffiend owner Oliver James united for The Fruit Box Show at the Grafton St café recently, bringing art and live music together to connect the next generation with papaya.
“We need to bring the farmer back into focus when selling produce to create a greater connection with consumers,” Ms MacLaughlin said.
“Farmers spend a lot of time growing produce and the sticker on our papayas and the box they come in are our primary connections to people buying fruit.
“My fruit box is my billboard for Skybury papaya, and I haven’t been using it. I want to give supermarkets a collectible box where they can proudly display our fruit and acknowledge the farmers behind it.”
More than a dozen artists showcased their fruit box designs at The Fruit Box Show at Caffiend, with the inaugural winner named as UK-born Cairns artist Meg Taylor, who will now have their work printed on Skybury’s weekly run of 20,000 boxes with the national rollout showcasing 180,000 pieces of fruit across Australia.
Meg has lived in Australia for a decade and is fascinated with Australian animals which she often paints in contorted positions with flowers around them.
“I am also interested in death rituals from around the world and when I was working with the fruit box, I immediately thought about the shrine boxes in Mexico and Spain,” she said.
“I had a few ideas but I wanted to do something funny, so I chose to paint the kangaroo as Mother Mary holding a papaya and made it look like a shrine with candles and flowers.”
Ms MacLaughlin said Skybury had a longstanding relationship with Caffiend through the farm’s coffee and now with their papaya.
“Caffiend’s reputation as a venue for art, food and music is ideal for The Fruit Box Show as a mechanism to help Skybury to talk to consumers,” she said.
“Music, art and food have been used for centuries to communicate and I think most people can connect with those three things in their everyday life.
“I find it increasingly hard to talk to consumers in an incredibly busy society where the cost of living is a big topic. The Fruit Box Show is a starting point to help raise awareness of the farmer.”
