In Closing: Packaging Gets “Inked”
Tattoo artists are jumping into the beauty business and inspiring new package designs.
By by Marie Redding, Senior EditorEd Hardy, one of the most famous of all tattoo artists, has lent his designs to many products and packages. He cocreated the ultratrendy fashion brand Ed Hardy by Christian Audigier, which has a celebrity following. Now, the brand has partnered with New Wave fragrances, and Hardy’s tattoo designs adorn fragrance packaging.
“We wanted to create something that would turn fragrance packaging on its head. The packages are bursting with loud colors and large tattoos. The bottles are immediately recognizable as Ed Hardy originals,” says Salo Lekach, president and CEO of New Wave Fragrances.
Ed Hardy by Christian Audigier’s men’s and women’s fragrances are both encased in glass bottles with elongated two-part plastic caps that cover almost the entire length of the bottles. The outer part of the cap was molded from clear PCTA supplied by Eastman. “This part features the tattoo design, which is applied using a 360° four-color transfer-decal process,” says Roger Hackbush, founder of N202 Branding (Summit, NJ), the company that supplied the packaging.
The bottle’s inner cap was molded from custom-colored polypropylene and was snap-fitted into the outer part of the cap. A Zamac medallion featuring the Ed Hardy logo was press-fitted onto the top of the outer cap.
Another tattoo artist, Kat Von D, was asked by Sephora to create a limited-edition cosmetics collection in honor of the retailer’s 10-year anniversary. “More and more, people are viewing tattoos as an art form, a way to express their individuality,” says Von D, who stars in the reality television series LA Ink. “As an artist, I’ve always viewed makeup as another way to express myself. I’m thrilled to be partnering with Sephora for my first beauty endeavor.”
The Kat Von D packaging is black and adorned with grey rose tattoos, symbolizing Von D’s signature look of Hollywood glamour with a rock star twist. HCT Packaging (Los Angeles; New York City) supplied most of the packages in the line, which were decorated using multiple silk-screen passes.
Will these products and package designs appeal to everyone? According to Lekach, 25% of the general population now has tattoos—and those who are getting “inked” cross all age barriers. “It’s a demographic to be taken very seriously,” he says.