Opening Lines
In the spring, many awards ceremonies are held to recognize excellence in the beauty industry. In the past few months alone, The Fragrance Foundation’s FiFi Awards and Cosmetic Executive Women’s Beauty Awards took place. As for CPC Packaging, we bring to you in this issue coverage of our 2005 Editors’ Choice Awards.
One recently honored company was Bath & Body Works. It was the recipient of the 16th annual Art of Packaging award, given at a dinner held May 10 at New York City’s University Club. The black-tie gala benefits the Marc Rosen Scholarship for Package Design. Based on a design competition, four students were chosen to receive scholarships to the Pratt Institute, where Rosen is an adjunct professor.
We spoke with Daren D’Andrea, director of package development for MAC Cosmetics and Sean John, who attended the event. He entered the industry with a degree in industrial design from Pratt Institute. “Because of my background on the design side, I am very aware of the importance of design and how much it really affects the brand. On a night like this, it is great to see how the industry recognizes the importance of design,” D’Andrea says.
Bath & Body Works earned the industry’s recognition by reinventing itself during the past year. Its stores were redesigned, the company partnered with new brands to sell, and it also developed its own in-house brands.
Neil Fiske, CEO for Bath & Body Works, is fairly new to our industry, but he is well known as the coauthor of the influential book Trading Up. He conveyed to guests the excitement he feels in the cosmetics and personal care industry right now and how package design will have an important role to play in the near future. “The next decade has the potential to be a golden age of art and design,” said Fiske. He predicted that three factors will influence the next decade’s designs:
- The fact that consumers are trading up and will only buy from the brands whose packages they love.
- More design will be open-sourced. “Speed and creativity are critical in sustaining a company’s growth. We can no longer compete solely from within,” Fiske said.
- New channels of distribution are emerging, providing a place for new designs. “Bath & Body Works is giving birth to new lines, such as Goldie, from the creators of Hard Candy, and Bigelow, the coolest apothecary in America,” he said.
Fiske ended his speech by offering the Pratt students a few words of advice: “The next decade will be one of the richest climates for innovation that I can imagine. Aim high. The time has never been better.”
We look forward to seeing how the next decade will influence package design—and celebrating the new developments next spring.
Marie Redding
Senior Editor