In Closing: Where Nature and Technology Meet
Yves Saint Laurent’s wood compact turns into a necklace, thanks to magnets.
By Marie Redding,, Senior EditorTo celebrate the 30th anniversary of its cosmetics division, Yves Saint Laurent launched a bronzing powder in a limited-edition compact called Soleil D’Afrique. The compact is made from wood, reflecting a trend toward the use of more natural materials. With the help of a removable faux-leather cord, attached by magnets, the compact also doubles as a necklace.
Figuring out how to make the cord easily removable, yet strong enough to hold the weight of the heavy compact, was a challenge. The team at Jackel Cosmetics Ltd. (New York City), which supplied the package, considered various options.
“We were thinking about using a thread and a screw, but that seemed too complicated to appeal to the YSL customer,” says Thomas Diezinger, sales director for Jackel France. “We then became inspired by the way that magnets are used to connect cords to a MacBook [laptop computer],” he says.
The YSL compact cord is held in place on the compact by simple T-shaped magnets, which were placed on the cord ends and attach to two magnets on the compact. “This was the best solution and proved to be a simple way to solve this issue,” says Diezinger.
The compact’s lid is also held closed by magnets—two in the compact’s base and two in the lid. “We drilled holes in the wood and positioned the magnets in the holes. Then we used a wood filler and polished the surface to make it smooth,” says Diezinger.
Wood filler and a polishing process were also used over the entire compact to disguise the tiny recesses that are part of natural wood. This process ensured that each compact would look the same. Lastly, the compact was sprayed with a tinted varnish.
Ensuring that the package would pass drop tests was another challenge. The back hinge had to be strong, but YSL’s marketing team didn’t want any metal to show. “We did a lot of research to figure out the best shape for a wooden hinge. The fact that wood is so soft made it difficult to figure out how to prevent the hinge from wobbling,” says Diezinger. A small metal tube was inserted into the wooden hinge to strengthen it, solving this issue.
“Natural materials are so much more in demand right now. Wood has a very warm feeling, very different from metal or plastic,” says Diezinger.