FAQ

The key to saving with ROKBOX is through reuse. No matter what your role in the art world, when you ship art in a crate that can be used multiple times, you save money.

These savings can either be achieved in two ways: through purchasing your own ROKBOX to use time and time again whenever you so wish, rather than buying a new crate each time; or through renting a ROKBOX from a fine art shipper or through ROKBOX LOOP instead of paying for a traditional wooden crate to be made and destroyed soon after.

You also save by drastically decreasing the likelihood of damage to your art while in transit or storage, which, aside from losing the cultural and financial value of the art itself, also means less insurance claims and a more stable insurance premium.

ROKBOX Original can be reused tens if not a hundred times, whereas ROKBOX Lite can be reused up to 10 times. Of course, like with most things, the better it is looked after, the longer your ROKBOX will last.

It is possible that your insurance premium shall decrease when your broker learns that you are awarding better protection to your artwork. Additionally, this better protection means less claims on your insurance and less likelihood of your premium increasing when up for renewal.

ROKBOX Original was designed to be the most robust, long-lasting and protective art shipping crate possible. We then created ROKBOX Lite to offer a product for those who may not need an art shipping crate that lasts a lifetime, but still want an economical and green solution. For more info about the differences between ROKBOX Original and ROKBOX Lite, please refer to their respective Product Guidelines.

ROKBOX Nest is the ultimate form of protection for your art during shipping and storage. By combining a ROKBOX Lite inside a ROKBOX Original, essentially, your art receives double the protection. While both ROKBOX Original and Lite are scientifically proven to provide superior protection compared to traditional shipping crates, together they add an even greater layer of safety and reassurance.

Yes, absolutely. Plastic has a high strength to weight ratio, meaning it has a high resistance to breakage from falls and tumbles as well as rogue forklift operators. Moreover, unlike the wood used in standard shipping crates, plastic does not absorb water, so it provides a waterproof skin, and it does not contain any acidity, making your art safe from potential chemical damage.

ROKBOX Original includes a number of materials in addition to plastic, which together comprise a complex system achieving far greater protection than wood and foam alone can provide. ROKBOX Lite is made from the same lightweight but super strong material that is found inside crash helmets designed to protect life itself! If you’d like to know more about the benefits of using plastic materials over the problems associated with wood, we suggest taking a look at the National Gallery of Art Washington’s ‘Art in Transit’ study, which can be found here.

In short, yes. There will occasionally be an artwork which isn’t suitable for ROKBOX but that may be to do with how it’s framed or mounted or its size.

ROKBOX crates were developed to match or exceed best practice guidelines for the safe handling of artworks as laid out in the National Gallery of Art Washington’s ‘Art in Transit’ study, which can be read in full here.

To ensure they perform correctly, both ROKBOX Original and Lite case ranges have completed comprehensive independent testing at the facilities of TUV-SUD. This testing programme was to validate mechanical and climatic performance, and to reproduce the wear and tear effects of both long journeys and repeated re-use.

In terms of certification, ROKBOX crates meet the following standards:
· Water standards
BS EN 60529: 1992+A2:2013 IPX3 (Protection against Spraying Water)
BS EN 60529: 1992+A2:2013 IPX8 (Protection against the effects of Continuous Immersion in Water)
· Fire standards
ROKBOX Lite: Fire resistance rating UL94-V2

We can customise the front and rear lid panels with a logo or symbol of your choice. We are also able to change the colour of the corners for large orders. Please email info@rok-box.com for more information.

At the moment we don’t offer customised interiors but fine art shippers and skilled packing technicians can utilise their knowledge and apply additional materials such as foam, wooden battens, card, etc. within a ROKBOX, if required.

Currently, customisation of size is only available for bulk orders numbering in the hundreds. However, we are continuing to bring out more sizes of ROKBOX. To let us know the sizes / shapes you are most interested in, please email info@rok-box.com.

We have a full range of product guidelines which are available on our website here. Alternatively, please email info@rok-box.com if you’d like us to email them to you.

We are also available to provide online demonstrations. Please email us at info@rok-box.com with the subject “ROKBOX walkthrough” and we’ll be in touch to schedule a session.

We publish the maximum artwork dimensions for each model and size of ROKBOX in our Product Guidelines. Please check to see if your artwork is compatible with these maximum dimensions before purchasing. If you need more assistance, please get in touch with us via email info@rok-box.com.

​​A common misconception is that plastic is bad for the environment. When used responsibly, plastic is actually key to using the Earth’s resources sustainably. How so? Plastic allows for reuse. Instead of chopping down tree after tree to make traditional crates, and then filling them with non-recyclable foams only to dispose of them after a single use, plastic ROKBOX crates can be reused up to 100 times depending on the model and do not necessarily require any additional single-use protective packaging within. What’s more, at the end of their lifecycle, ROKBOX crates can be fully recycled. In short, using plastic means we can “reduce, reuse, recycle” and thereby minimize harm to the environment.

If you would like more information on this topic, Julie’s Bicycle wrote a guide to using plastics responsibly, which features ROKBOX. Read it here.

Additionally, STiCH (Sustainability Tools in Cultural Heritage) are a team of cultural heritage professionals, engineers, and conservation graduate students who provide a clear path to reducing the carbon footprint from cultural heritage activities worldwide. STiCH have studied the CO2e impact of different styles of wooden crates to that of reusable crates, including ROKBOX Original and Lite. Their study can be found here. ROKBOX products were proven to enable the greatest CO2e saving of all crating options, including other reusable crates. Furthermore, STiCH also measured additional environmental impacts such as carcinogenics, ecotoxicity and ozone depletion results which are produced as a result of crate making, usage and disposal. Again, ROKBOX crates were found to produce the lowest degree of pollutants of all crating options that STiCH compared.

GCC Active Members are entitled to a 10% Discount on Original, 10% Discount on Lite, unless buying over 5, then 20% discount. Offer available until August 2024 to all GCC Active Members.

Yes we do! Please contact orders@rok-box.com for more info.

Please complete this ROKBOX Hardware Order Form and we’ll be in touch about payment and shipment, thank you!