The Crystal Skull

Inspired by the legend of the crystal skulls, actor Dan Aykroyd (ex Blues Brothers) and artist John Alexander have designed the bottle for Crystal Head Vodka with the specific intention of cladding one of the purest vodkas in the world with an outstanding packaging.

Crystal Head Vodka is famous for its selected ingredients of the highest quality, additive free and distilled four and filtered seven times over. Over the last three steps it is purified through 500 million year quartz crystals, the famous “Herkimer diamonds”, found only in very few places in the world.

These quartz crystals are the most valuable, clear and powerful of all the known ones; they seem to have the ability to absorb and radiate energy, and allow one to reach high spiritual vibrations; they are attributed powerful metaphysical properties and are said to be of help in astral voyages because they connect the cosmic to the physical plain.
The mysterious thirteen crystal skulls of a popular Mayan legend were said to be made from this very type of quartz crystal compound. The legend has now been disproven from a scientific point of view, but still very involving and appealing, to the point of being a great cue for excellent marketing.

And it is inspired by this myth that Aykroyd and Alexander devised a glass bottle shaped like a skull that has already become cult. The prototype was built by the Milanese glassworks Bruni and the entire design process lasted more than two years and has had to overcome enormous complexities, but, as it seems, it was worth the effort.
crystal_50_rolling_web

After garnering a huge commercial success, the “Crystal Skull” has been in fact chosen by the legendary Rolling Stones as the official vodka for the celebration of their 50 years on stage. Crystal Head Vodka and Universal Music have therefore designed a limited edition box set that presents itself as a display case with zipper, which incorporates the cover of the legendary 1971 album Sticky Fingers. Inside are the distinctive skull-bottle, a cap-jewel engraved bearing the famous Rolling Stones logo and two compilations of live tracks recorded exclusively for this special edition.

In 2013 Crystal Head Vodka was awarded the Gold Medal at the Salon Prodexpo, Moscow, even beating the best Russian vodkas.
The crystal skull is definitely bringing luck.

Les Pet Petits. New sustainable craftwork.

Questions of design and environmentalism. Plastic products in general and mineral water bottles in particular are accused of being the greatest “pollutants” if left in the ecosystem. But has anyone thought about how to turn things around and transform a drawback (in the ‘green’ way of course) – the virtually infinite lifespan of PET – into an advantage: a series of very cool, artistic and long lasting bracelets.

Wojciech Łanecki is a Polish designer and entrepreneur whose wishes create products with a strong emotional charge and bearers of values such as: respect for the environment and for manual work, care for craft quality in the era of mass production, focus on sustainability.
The Les Petits Pet bracelets well represent all this, being new concept contemporary “jewels” in that  they derive from the creative reuse of PET bottles.
lesPETpetit_e3ee_WEB

These objects, however, not only arise from the intent of promoting ecology and recycling but also aspire to being appealing, glamorous and fashionable.

Due to their aesthetic minimalism derived from the work of young artists, these colorful, lightweight ornaments suit  all styles and outfits; they are available in eight colors and two sizes, and are made by hand with great attention to quality.

Each piece has been painstakingly crafted down to the last detail, including the packaging that contains them, a round box whose graphic and material codes portray contemporariness and the “green” spirit.
Something seemingly luxurious but at a very, very democratic price.
which is what “sustainability” is all about.

Mascara behind the scenes

A packaging must always come to terms with the product it contains, especially in the field of cosmetics. But what is hidden behind a simple “blink of an eye”? Answers from Renato Ancorotti, president of Ancorotti Group, an R&D leader that creates makeup and skincare products for the most important international brands. Sonia Pedrazzini

What successes have you had in the world of cosmetics?
I began in makeup production in 1984 when I founded Gamma Croma.
In the beginning things were adventurous and intense, the experiences of a tiny business of three people.
In 2008, when I sold off my shares, we were 350, and the company had become the world’s number two player. A year later I came back to the sector, founding Ancorotti Cosmetics with my daughter Enrica. Unlike Gamma Croma, which produced a little of everything in the way of makeup products, we decided to specialize in mascara, which is absolutely the most difficult makeup product because it combines a brush, packaging and formula that must be perfectly balanced. The formula, in particular, is extremely delicate in this case, and without optimal conditions it can easily lose its necessary properties.

Ancorotti_mascara_WEB

Few people imagine how much work and professionalism is required behind the scenes to produce a mascara. How does Ancorotti Cosmetics operate, and who are its main customers?

Without naming names, we can affirm that we produce the most widely sold mascara in Europe, as well as the most sold in Russia; we have also overtaken part of the notoriously difficult French market. We pursue all market ranges and sell in Italy as well as abroad. Wherever customs fees are high, we send only the formula which is then packaged on-site. In other cases, the customer supplies the pack and we fill it with our product and put it on the market.
The trend will in any case always be that of offering a full service, even going so far as to ask the customer who wants to buy only in bulk to supply a few packaging samples, so that we can test it with the formula. This is in order to be sure that the product we are supplying will be adequately preserved.
It’s not a given, in fact, that the best formula and the best packaging, when put together, will result in the best mascara. For every type of formula there will thus be a specific brush – whose fibers will be determined by the viscosity and density of the mascara –, a particular reducer to establish the quantity released, and even the material of the packaging will have to be carefully adjusted and tested for compatibility with the formula in its stable form.

Ancorotti_fill_service_WEB_okIn cosmetics, what most fascinates you in a packaging solution?
Today what I find most striking is quality; but also the ability of those who, in a sector such as ours, manage to create new objects without by this innovation altering the ritual, the act of putting on makeup. With Mascara, for example, you open it and you use it in a certain way, it’s always been the same way; changing these gestures seems to me impossible. Thinking about packaging, I would like it to be heavy and important, made of modern and sensuous materials capable of conveying refinement, value, emotion. Applying mascara has become for many women a daily ritual, just as they use body care products like soap, toothpaste, creams… In sum, cosmetics play a “social” role in our lives and behind it all lies technical complexity, research and the prevailing atmosphere of the concern involved: these factors are less visible, but for me they are the more intriguing.

What suggestions would you make for a packaging designer or concern producing cosmetics packaging?
Designers need first of all to have a profound knowledge of the sector for which they design; they need to have technical knowledge, know the materials and processes, but also the humility necessary to sit down with a concern and its technicians in order to develop the product within the correct limitations imposed by feasibility.
The concern, for its part, needs first of all to ensure that its product respects all parameters of quality, as well as to demonstrate more attention to the world of design, which is often seen as vacuous: I’m sure that if a designer of great substance worked with the cosmetics sector we would have some pleasant surprises.

There is plenty of talk about “Made in Italy”. How are we perceived abroad as far as concerns cosmetics?
In recent years, the value of our image has been considerably enhanced. Italian style is well received, not only in food, fashion and design, but also in cosmetics. Perhaps not everyone is aware that 70% of the world’s outsourced makeup production occurs in Italy, and that our skill is prized, especially in this area of Lombardy.
Production in Italy is certainly the necessary condition for considering a product “Made in Italy”, but that alone does not suffice: it’s necessary that the product be made with certain characteristics. The foreign customer expects from us high quality, in the vein of Ferrari or Brunello Cucinelli, but for the Made in Italy moniker something else is needed, a sort of certification guaranteeing the level of quality of Italian production.

And which, in your opinion, are the talents in the cosmetic sector that should be better known to us Italians as well?
Dario Ferrari, president and founder of Intercos, is definitely the point of reference of this excellence. His concern is number one worldwide, a veritable beacon of product research and development that has managed to offer customers innovative and high quality marketing and product solutions.
In Italy, outsource contracting is no longer mere grunt work, a matter of supply, but entails research on the cutting edge. It’s a comfort to know that a great many of the most exclusive products currently on the market, with very prestigious brands, are conceived and created in Italy.

With the foundation of Ancorotti Cosmetics India, you have made a decisive leap in scale. What is this division in charge of? Compared to western markets, what are the major challenges?
We created this division in order to satisfy the needs of the emerging markets of India and Asia and to produce cosmetics on-site formulated according to specific requirements. We are partnered 50% with Indian concerns, so that we always have our finger on the pulse of the situation and know, for example, which products sell best in that part of the world, which at the moment are products for lips. Mascara is, in fact, still little used by Indian women, who are only discovering it now. It’s a complex market that is continuously evolving, not only from a strictly industrial standpoint, but also due to the public’s sensitivity with regard to cosmetics.
Certainly one of the major problems is dealing with Indian bureaucracy, which is much more complicated than ours, which says a lot, and which consumes a lot of time.

ancorotti_mood

Are the formulas produced directly in India?

At the moment, we prepare them in Italy and transfer them to India, but we are training technicians in order to make our partners autonomous and lead them to create a high quality product. Producing in India means, for us, leaving behind an important legacy in that land, which is to say our experience and knowhow, which will yield fruits from a local concern created for that market. But, to be clear, we will never offshore our Italian business.

Indeed, your desire to reinstate the value of the Italian territory and see its productive forces implemented is also clearly expressed in your promotion of the “Cosmetics Pole”. Could you explain what that is?
At the moment Italy is in the middle of a major crisis, and I see no signs of recovery. I also believe the situation is quite critical because our economy is largely built on small and medium enterprises that are often unprepared for dealing with a crisis such as this one. In this context, I believe organizing as a system is the only panacea: when small businessmen and women and artisans come together and constitute a supply chain, they can achieve a lot. But it’s not enough, for they also need to look abroad and gather the forces necessary to promote their products internationally, since it is impossible to avoid facing the fact that we operate in a globalized and interconnected system.
The “Cosmetics Pole” was formed in 2006 with the very idea of bringing together concerns of the area around the town of Crema engaged in makeup production and packaging. The organization has an ambitious double objective: combining forces in research and development and establishing an ethical code. Indeed, all members are required to grow, not only in terms of turnover, but also with certifications, quality, and especially training, in such a way guaranteeing a base of technicians and experts who speak a common language and have specific knowledge. In light of this, a “product and process industrialization technician” course, conceived by Sogecos and Ancorotti SpA, in collaboration with the Galilei Institute in Crema in order to train technicians for local concerns, is now offered in Crema as of January of this year.

“I love you Italy”

We have to stop pitying ourselves, moaning the whole time, underrating Italy’s wonders.
We are a strange people, combining genius with rulelessness, artfulness and skill, and amidst all the beauty that surrounds us. We are Italians, we are made that way.

Let’s look sharp and open our eyes, we are in a recession and it won’t be over quickly, but one of our best qualities is our ability to reinvent ourselves.
Up with our heads, out with our pride, “I love you Italy”… it’s even written on the pack.

A fine declaration of love that expressed by Collistar with a capsule collection designed by Antonio Marras and featuring nuances inspired by Italy and its symbolic places; one only needs cities like Venice, Milan, Verona, Rome and Syracuse to suggest the palette of reds, shades, glosses and earths.

ti-amo-italia1_WEB
At a graphic level, the lead thread that unites the entire project is the typical sign of the Sardinian designer, this time in the shape of the silhouette of a woman’s face, elegant, essential, poetic and that seems to be inspired on the timeless profiles of the great Modigliani.collistar_bazzani12_web

Interesting the seamless  integration between design (the woman’s eye) and brand, Collistar’s “c” symbol that, along with the use of ruby red – Marras’ signature color – to paint the woman’s mouth, represents the solid but discreet union between two brands that epitomize the beauty of Made in Italy.

Bio-design: the “beehive” bottle

To celebrate the launch of its new honey whiskey, Dewar’s had 80,000 bees create an enlarged copy of the bottle. Under the supervision of an expert beekeeper, the tireless worker bees built the hive following the shape of the mould. The work was completed in around six weeks. An incredible result of the coalition between nature and technology.
When Dewar’s decided to create a sculpture for the launch of Highlander Honey Whiskey, it exasperated the concept of 3-D printing using the ability of the bees and gave shape to an apparently impossible project, the “3-B Printing Project”. But how can you direct a swarm of bees to build a hive in the shape you want?  3bees_WEB 3bees2_dewar_webThe Ebeling Group (that can boast a reputation for solving the most incredible projects) and master beekeeper Robin Theron were able to come up with the answer. Aboveall the Ebeling team created a 3-D model (press-moulded in the traditional manner) that could be used by the bees as a base on which to build their cells and closed it in a transparent hull, just slightly bigger than the same, so as to reproduce the real space in which the bees move in the hives; this also enabled a perfect view of the “work in progress”. Entry and exit paths for the bees were then created to enable them to search for pollen and, lastly, thousands of worker bees were introduced.
The entire process took around six weeks, requiring two entire colonies of bees, the first of which was completely removed before the second was introduced; aboveall, to avoid the honeycomb filling up with honey and other eggs being laid, the queen bee was kept isolated for a given period. The bees moved around freely and to film them as they landed on the flowers and tools, everyone wore protective masks and overalls. Once the honeycomb had been created, the plastic hull was carefully removed and the end result was surprising and scenic: a splendid bottle-shaped hive.

video
To be fair and correct one has to cite the Slovak artist Tomáš Gabzdil Libertíny
, clearly the source of inspiration of the agency Sid Lee – that followed the campaign for the launch of the new Dewar’s whiskey. Libertíny’s work, carried out in 2007 using a very similar technique, used 40,000 bees and was called “slow prototyping

libertiny_WEB
To find out more read  Slovakian Honeycomb Vase Designer Claims Dewar’s Whiskey Campaign Exploits His Work | Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

Poste Italiane reworks its parcel design

Poste Italiane too bears witness to the fact that the container is evermore important, having recently brought out a 100,000 piece, limited edition, highly special “collectors” pack. An Artist’s Pack, that recounts, in the style of Giuseppe Stampone, a trip across Italy by way of the most significant monuments, personalities, myths and symbols of the “Bel Paese”.
Artist’s pack is a project  by SPIRITO DUE born out of an idea by Valentina Ciarallo and Maria Chiara Russo with the objective of turning the classic yellow Poste Italiane pack into a work of art and to increase young people’s and the general public’s contact with contemporary art.

A public art project hence where the public, called upon to vote for their favorite pack, becomes protagonist along with the artists.

After a preselection among 12 contemporary artists invited to take part in the project (Andrea Aquilanti, Arthur Duff, Flavio Favelli, Giuseppe Pietroniro, Giuseppe Stampone, goldiechiari, Hitnes, Marco Raparelli, Mauro Di Silvestre, Miltos Manetas, Silvia Camporesi and Vedovamazzei), October last the six finalist d’auteur packs were directly voted by the public on the website  www.leavventuredipaco.com.

The most-voted-for container was that of Giuseppe Stampone entitled “L’ABC del Bel Paese”. The artist from Abbruzzo thus commented his victory:«Taking part in a project of this type is more important than any museum exhibition. Today works “suffer” if they  solely remain in the art circuit, which is why one of the artist’s main objectives is to enable largescale fruition of contemporary art».

Silvia Camporesi
Silvia Camporesi

Runner up, just a few votes behind, Silvia Camporesi’s pack that exploits an image freely drawn from the final scene of Antonioni’s film Zabriskie Point: a colored explosion of clothes and objects and hence of human stories, the type that any pack or parcel traveling the world around might conceal.

 

 

 

 

Marco Raparelli
Marco Raparelli
Hitnes
Hitnes
Mauro Di Silvestre
Mauro Di Silvestre
Arthur Duff
Arthur Duff

 

Boxes (d’artiste) and bubbles

Founded in 1729, Ruinart is the oldest champagne producer in the world.
The first to use ancient caves carved out of the stone beneath the city of Reims in order to age its wines. The first to store its bottles, starting in the 18th century, in wooden crates and the first to reinstate the traditional champagne bottle.

With these things in mind, the Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek created the wooden crates for Ruinart’s Blanc de Blancs.
And naturally his Nordic style is very “eco-chic”.


In order to avoid unnecessary waste and optimize transport while minimizing the solution’s environmental impact, the designer conceived and built a trapezoidal chest whose profile has been appropriately refashioned, with a series of minimal touches, against the physical space occupied by the bottle.

What results is a truncated pyramidal crate which, – in addition to serving as a designer packaging – with its shape reminiscent of the keystone in an arch, as if it were a recurring architectural feature (or a piece of “Lego”), can be stacked in a very compact manner and used to create grandiose scenic installations.


In line with Eek’s typical approach, the wood used in the crates is recycled, but in order to better reflect the colors of Blanc de Blancs an essence of pine was patiently selected in hues of pale gray, white and cream and then treated on the surface with lacquers to make a precious finish. Each case has been handmade in the studios of Piet Hein Eek, in Geldrop, near Eindhoven, and has been signed and numbered to make it a unique item, like the bottle it contains.

video

 

 

From Puglia with love

Olive oil, tarallucci and stamps are the ingredients of a 100% Made in Italy project. Born out of a passion for design, typography and good food, Typuglia is a young brand proposing artistically “dressed” Apulian gastronomic delights.

The mind behind the project, Leonardo Di Renzo, a lover of his native land, as well as typography, and a creative by profession, had the good intuition to promote and distribute the best products of his region, adorning them with fine packaging duly designed in order to communicate the values still inherent in these local products: artisanship, quality ingredients, manual skill, inspiration and good taste, but also new ones such as sustainability and ethics.

What drove all this is a passion for typography and a desire to rediscover its ancient techniques and the manual skill that was being lost among digital desktops.

Di Renzo and his partners are now in the process of selecting taralli, pasta, sauces and extra virgin olive oil from local concerns working in the traditional manner. Then, with the inspiration of the creatives, they will conceive and execute all the packaging (by hand, one by one, as if these too were each a piece of homemade gastronomy) – from a handmade and hand painted terracotta jar to a recyclable and reusable honeycomb carton with a jewel case or lamp (just by following the simple instructions contained within the packaging), from hand-printed and – numbered labels to mini-bags containing real olive leaves – and finally they move on to sales and distribution.

The target market is well-defined, Di Renzo and co. referring to them as the “gourmet designers”, demanding, capricious, perfectionist and insatiable: those who meander with curiosity through the bookshops of museums and art galleries, frequent bistros, peak through the racks of wine shops and delis to satisfy refined desires. Just like them.

 

Action!: Roughs and Rouges

Young fashion promises “clad” the official make-up collection of the Venice Film Show amidst the red carpet, photocalls and première nights.

ciack_laguna_01Lagune Extase is the limited edition by L’Oréal Paris – for the sixth time sponsor and official make-up provider of the Venice Film Show – dedicated to the 2013 edition of the event. A collection of lipsticks, mascaras and nail varnishes with packaging signed by four emerging and gifted fashion designers, chosen for the occasion by Vogue Italia.

ciack_laguna_03

Angelos Bratis, Barbara Casasola, Marta Ferri and Stella Jean hence got the task of interpreting four looks inspired by the main engagements of stars at the Film Show and “clad” the make-up flacons with design roughs of their unique and exclusive creations.
For the “Red Carpet”, Barbara Casasola thought up a contemporary and sensual siren’s look to be worn with bright red lipstick and white fingernails.
For the “Première Night” in turn, Angelo Bratis proposed a lunar woman, elegant, almost ethereal, contrasting with the sunny and merry image of Stella Jean – whose style, extremely personal, reflects her Creole heredity – proffered in the look devised for the “Social Party”.

ciack_laguna_02

Lastly, fashion designer Marta Ferri interpreted the “Photocall” – a moment the stars dedicate to the photographers – with great freshness and just a pinch of romanticism.

The small illustrated bottles speak for themselves: attractive fashion parade souvenirs, they are 3D miniatures that tell the dream of fashion and it was amazing to see how the sinuous figures drawn by the four fashion designers actually came to life on the catwalk.

A further reason for collecting these unique packaging items. Should you still be able to find one.

Absolutely unique

absolut_uniqueok

Absolut Vodka knows how to use packaging as the best of marketing tools, and with great skill it has always managed to communicate various images with the same bottle. But with Absolut Unique and Absolut Originality the Swedish concern has outdone itself, creating four million unique pieces.

Following decades of experience making sure each bottle is exactly the same, Absolut Vodka has turned this practice on its head by declaring that no two bottles should be equal. To make possible what at first appeared a mad dream, an unthinkable gamble, it was necessary to redesign the concern’s entire production process. Coloring machines and robotized arms equipped with spray guns were built, and a special algorithm was developed in order to implement a near infinite sequence of combinations of 35 colors and 51 designs.
Once the rules were set, the machines did the rest, and the Absolut Vodka facility was transformed into an abstract painter’s studio.
In these terms, with the creation of an enormous quantity of bottles, all different and numbered, rather than a limited number with a single design, the philosophy of the collector’s item has been reversed from an agonistic search for rarity to “whichever bottle you find will be unique”.
All that happened just one year ago; as always, tireless in its constant proposal of novelties, Absolut Vodka has just launched Absolut Originality, a new limited edition of “four million unique pieces”, artistically decorated with a refined effect that highlights the crystal of the glass and bestows each bottle with streaks and hints of blue, the symbolic color of Absolut.
A bottle that is always different, created using technology which is cutting-edge but which models itself on the artisanal techniques of the Swedish master glassblowers, as well as the use of drops of cobalt glass in the melted glass heated at 1,100°C. By fusing together, they produce patterns that are always different.
But that’s another story.

absolute_originalityok