Back to News Case Studies News 27 October 2026 ROKBOX LOOP Official Supplier Spotlight Best Practice Never Stands Still How Helu-Trans is redefining art protection with ROKBOX reusable crating with Artist Engineering’s non-contact handling The global art world can be fractured and opaque, yet the people trusted with the safe passage of artworks share a steadfast instinct: to protect. Building crates, planning routes, de-installing exhibitions, transporting consignments, these are acts of custodianship, and a promise that a work will arrive exactly as it left. AE and ROKBOX hardware used by Helu-Trans A promise to protect Innovation in fine art handling Keeping that promise hasn’t always been easy. Materials used historically to protect valuable items carry vulnerabilities too. Unexpected downpours, pest invasions, errant forklifts, faulty screws. Even careful, repeated handling can damage an artwork beyond repair. When the promise breaks, the cost is measured not only culturally, but also financially, not to mention lost trust and damaged relationships. New materials engineering for the modern world Helutrans is Asia’s premier art logistics provider and is trusted by museums, auction houses, galleries and private collectors. Forward-thinking by nature they have paired two of the art world’s most considered, insurance-recommended answers to these losses. ROKBOX’s safer, circular reusable crating with Artist Engineering’s non-contact handling hardware. Innovation in fine art handling ROKBOX’s reusable, engineered crates protect artworks in transit and storage. The award-wining designs eliminate single-use packaging, cut costs and save carbon emissions by up to 92%. Its latest hardware release, the Paddle, allows artworks with metal fixings, including Artist Engineering hardware, mirror plates and oz clips, to be fixed into a ROKBOX crate without any material contact . Artist Engineering (AE) makes hardware that lets preparators lift, move and install artworks without touching them. Together, they remove risk and unsustainable materials including gloves, foam blocks and loose packaging from the process. AE handles and ROKBOX Paddles are used for non-contact, packaging-free, best practice art handling “The AE system works harmoniously with ROKBOX Paddles, eliminating the need for gloves or foam blocks. This aligns with our core values, ensuring quicker turnaround times and reducing single use plastic consumption.” — May Yeung, Helutrans “I can recall some of the first conversations between AE and ROKBOX, and the realisation that we should work together to ensure compatibility between our systems. Aside from preventive conservation concerns, where the combination effectively mitigates a very long list of risks, packing a work in a ROKBOX crate with AE hardware is a quantum leap forward in simplicity and efficiency compared with traditional crating and handling practices.” — Sam Shmith, Founder and Director, Artist Engineering Protection, rebuilt from the inside out Conservation repairs damage after the fact, combining these two systems prevent it. A damaged painting can be returned to the condition the artist intended; so too can the systems around it be rebuilt so the damage never happens. “We’ll look back on the time we used to put our hands on these objects and wonder what on earth we were thinking.” — Sam Shmith, Founder and Director, Artist Engineering Shmith’s system is also designed around the preparators themselves, offering a significantly safer and more ergonomic way to handle artworks. Helu-Trans are the first fine art shipper to combine AE and ROKBOX hardware innovative designs Emerging best practice, in practice In the first practical application of the technologies together, Helu-Trans packed, delivered and installed artworks using ROKBOX Paddles with AE for a client, achieving “maximum protection during transport and installation, with zero loose packaging or wasted materials” says Yeung. By trialling new technologies, fine art shippers raise standards and help their teams adopt smarter, safer working practices. Helu-Trans doesn’t talk about progress, they enact it. They were among the first shippers to adopt ROKBOX and join the ROKBOX LOOP network, which allows anyone to access reusable fine art packaging for local or international one-way journeys. “Helu-Trans are true early adopters. I have great respect for their outlook of trialling new technologies and ways of working. I founded ROKBOX because I knew there must be a way to avoid the damage that outdated art packaging can have on artworks and the environment. Working with collaborative, forward-thinking partners like Helu-Trans and others in the LOOP network makes solving these big problems possible.” — Andrew Stramentov, ROKBOX “Over the years we have earned the trust of museums, auction houses, galleries, and private collectors. With this trust comes the responsibility to continually raise art handling standards in the region.” — May Yeung, Helu-Trans Best practice never stands still “In most industries there are leaders who don’t accept the status quo as being the end point of progress. Everything can be improved. In art logistics, there are some critical problems that clearly need to be overcome. Shippers like Helutrans that are so proactive in addressing those problems will pull the whole industry forward with them.” — Sam Shmith, Founder and Director, Artist Engineering The promise to protect hasn’t changed. The tools for keeping it have. About Helu-Trans Established in 1979, the Helu-Trans Group is the leading art handler and storage provider in Asia, meeting the stringent demands of the ever-growing arts industry. Headquartered in Singapore, the group has offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Yogyakarta, and Bangkok. Our reliability and commitment have earned us the trust of major art institutions, museums, collectors, artists, and art galleries regionally and internationally. About Artist Engineering Artist Engineering Hardware provides artworks with an entirely non-contact logistics ecosystem. From crate to installation, artworks are securely packed, shipped, staged and installed — without ever being touched. The product of five years’ R&D and laboratory testing, AE Hardware was designed in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia, to facilitate art handling without handling — systematically mitigating the highest-frequency risk to art objects, hidden in plain sight since the movement of art began. About ROKBOX ROKBOX LOOP is redefining fine art shipping with protective fine art crating that reduces risk, eradicates packaging waste, lowers costs and reduces the carbon emissions of fine art shipping by 85% on average. A global rental network, ROKBOX LOOP that is accessible by all museums, collectors, galleries and auction houses. The LOOP is a collaboration between ROKBOX and fine art shippers and isHaas & Company, Gander & White, Dietl, Helu-Trans, Harsch, Regency and operates in 14 fine art locations in 10 countries, and is growing.