Editors’ Choice Award Winner: Fragrance
Banana Republic Discover Collection
by Inter Parfums USA
The team at Banana Republic collaborated with design agency Desgrippes Gobe to create the beautifully designed packaging for the Discover Collection of fragrances. The bottles are all based on timeless shapes and are packaged in luxurious outer boxes made from real wood.
“These packages represent a marriage of classic and contemporary styles. In design, it is always difficult to connect the idea of tradition with a younger consumer, but this nails it completely,” says awards panelist Dennis Furniss, vice president of stra-tegic branding and design for Kaleidoscope.
Panelist George Kress, vice president of corporate package innovations for The Estée Lauder Companies, agrees. “Overall, I think the design is fabulous. The connection between the primary and secondary packages is awesome.”
There are five fragrances in the Discover Collection. The women’s bottles are curvaceous and feminine and are designed to be modern interpretations of antique perfume bottles. Jade is shaped like an acorn, Alabaster is modeled after a teardrop, and the inspiration for Rosewood was a pebble.
“The organic bottle shapes are very appealing to me,” says awards panelist Peter Hargraves, section head for Procter & Gamble global packaging and device development, cosmetics. “They have really brought all of the elements together in this design, and the attention to detail shows.”
Black Walnut and Slate are the men’s fragrances. “The men’s fragrances are strong, identically shaped square structures reminiscent of old-fashioned inkwells,” says Deborah Lloyd, executive vice president, product development and design, Banana Republic. Pochet supplies the bottles for Jade and Alabaster, while Saint-Gobain Desjonquères supplies the rest of the bottles in the collection. All of the bottles feature anodized aluminum collars and Zamac caps supplied by Jackel.
These are the first fragrances in North America to use the innovative NoC pump and dip tube system developed by MeadWestvaco Calmar. The dip tube is made of a material that matches each fragrance’s index of light refraction. This makes the tube seem to disappear when it is immersed in the fragrance. “This effect was extremely useful in the design of the Alabaster and Jade bottles because it allowed the design to remain clean, without the dip tube detracting from the bottle’s shape,” says Lloyd.
Kress was impressed by the use of this innovative component. “The dip tube does look obtrusive in certain bottle designs, and this is one example where it makes a real difference,” he says. “I know that the NoC dip tube took a long time to develop, and it is a real breakthrough for the whole fragrance industry.”
The women’s boxes are warm brown and cylindrically shaped. The men’s boxes are square, one black and the other gray. “Creating a wood secondary package poses many challenges,” remarks awards panelist Paul McLaughlin, creative director for Liz Claiborne Cosmetics.
Lloyd explains that one issue taken into account was the fact that wood shrinks over time. “Making sure the top and bottom parts would always fit together was a challenge,” she says.
The team that worked on this project should be very proud. “It is a great achievement,” comments McLaughlin.