Designer Interview: Harry Slatkin
Harry SlatkinBy Marie Redding, Senior Editor
Harry Slatkin, president of Slatkin & Co. (New York City), goes to great lengths to put the highest level of quality into everything he does. Slatkin's style is to get every detail right. His candles, which he says contain the highest level of oils in the industry, helped to spark the emergence of the luxury home fragrance category. Besides candles, Slatkin & Co. offers its own line of home fragrance sets and bath, body, and fragrance products as well as private-label services.
His latest debut is a line of Kabbalah candles, launching this month. The candles are packaged in red tins, since some believe red represents life and energy. It comes with a red string that is meant to be tied around one's left wrist to "ward off the evil eye." The string bracelet comes inside an envelope with its meaning printed on the outside, which Zorbit Resources supplies. "It's not just any ol' red string we bought at the corner—it's blessed at Rachel's Tomb," says Slatkin. He even hired an armored car to transport the bracelets from the sacred tomb in Israel to the airport.
"When you have such a high-profile product, and you know everyone is looking, you have to make sure every detail is perfect," says Jeff Magsitza, senior vice president of Zorbit Resources. Zorbit also supplies the custom tin, which had to fit snugly around the candle. It was made in a very heavy gauge, sprayed with a shiny red finish, and embossed on both the lid and the base with the letter K.
Launched this month, Slatkin & Co.'s new Kabbalah candles are packaged in tins that are red, a color some believe represent life and energy, with a red string attached. Zorbit also created a vacuum-formed insert, which is glued inside the tin on both the top and bottom,keeping the candle secure. "When the candle is placed inside the vacuum form, it locks completely," says Magsitza. To be completely sure, Magsitza sent 25 candles to his factory in China (where the tins were being made), had them put inside the tins, and then shipped via FedEx back to his office in New York City. "I wanted to be absolutely sure that the vacuum form was tight enough, and that it wouldn't rattle inside and scratch," says Magsitza.
Slatkin spent two years perfecting his bath and body line before launching it last year. The smooth finish on the fragrance bottle looks like sterling silver. He says, "I always come up with what I think seems to be the simplest thing, and it turns out to be unbelievably difficult." The tube, which is used for several different bath and body products, has been called the "Rolls Royce of tubes" in the industry. It has a luxuriously soft-touch feel—like a combination of satin and suede.
Jeff Hayet, director of national accounts at CCL Plastic Packaging, says, "This is the most elaborate, most expensive tube we've ever made. It was extremely complicated, and we put every possible luxury into it. Harry was very specific about what he wanted and truly designed every detail himself." It is made in three different colors (to coincide with its three scents) that were tweaked by Slatkin until they were perfect. The five-layer tube is of a medium-density polyethylene, coextruded with an EVOH barrier, and its head is induction sealed.
Grouped together, the bright red Kabbalah candle tins make a powerful impression. The plastic cap closure has a brushed metal overshell, which is applied by workers wearing gloves to prevent fingerprints. It was printed using offset, silk-screening, and then hot-stamping techniques. "When using three different types of printing, you need to be an expert because they all need to coincide. Each has its own tolerances," explains Hayet.
All of Slatkin & Co.'s products have a luxe look and quality feel. Excellent packaging is one of the tenets the brand is built on. Slatkin believes, "The package is the first thing you see, and must look and feel as perfect as the product inside." He fully understands that his customer comes to Slatkin & Co. expecting the highest level of quality, so he won't settle for anything less.
One of his biggest pet peeves is to see a less-than-perfect package—he feels right away that the company didn't put a lot of care into that product. Slatkin's final thoughts on how much impact a great package has: "You could put a napkin inside a Tiffany box, and how excited would people still be to open that box?"
The company is just 11 years old, but from the very beginning has been known for its celebrity clientele, and its affiliation with charities. Slatkin & Co. worked with the Princess Diana Memorial Fund, and it raised more than $1 million last year for the Elton John AIDS Fund. Slatkin says, "There is a good feeling when you can help make a difference. We're happy these opportunities came up."