Since first participating in the Asian Print Awards (APA) and the Asian Packaging Excellence Awards (APEA) in 2022, Refine Printing has consistently demonstrated its commitment to innovation, craftsmanship, and technical excellence. Its continued success reflects a culture of continuous improvement — where every project is an opportunity to refine ideas, explore new techniques, and raise the standard of print and packaging. In this interview, Aaron Lim, Managing Director of Refine Printing, shares how the team approaches award-winning innovation, the thinking behind their Gold-winning project at the APEA 2025, and how their partnership with Konica Minolta enables them to transform creative concepts into commercially viable, premium packaging solutions.
I’m Aaron Lim, Managing Director of Refine Printing. My role is to make sure our people, processes and equipment work seamlessly together from prepress to finishing, so that we can deliver consistent quality to support our customers and keep pushing the boundaries of what print and packaging can do.
Refine Printing is a Singapore-based printing and packaging company with an integrated production setup across Singapore and Johor Bahru, Malaysia. We specialise in premium packaging, commercial print and value-added finishing, combining offset, digital and specialty embellishments such as foiling, spot UV and textured effects. A lot of our work is for brands that want their packaging and printed materials to stand out on the shelf while still being practical and production-friendly.
Internally, we use APA & APEA as more than just an award platform, it’s like our “R&D lab” in real life. After every round, we sit down as a team to review our entries: what worked, where we struggled, and what new techniques or combinations we want to try next. We challenge ourselves in a few ways: