box vox

Bottles with Embroidered Shirt Labels

Another example of cross-category, clothing-related package design: Eau de Lacoste “Poloshirt in a Fragrance” bottles with their alligator shirt embem. Note the fabric texture on the sides of the bottle. (See also: Package as Clothing)

My earliest memory of an embroidered alligator emblem was when my mother in the late 1950s or early 1960s created some counterfeit Lacoste shirts for my grandfather, my father, me & my little brother. This was motivated more by the alligator than the brand status, I think, since we lived in south Florida, not so far from the Everglades. (See also: Crocodile Boxes—Alligator Bags)

Still, my mother must have been aware that the Lacaoste alligator emblem was a self-proclaimed “status symbol.”

René Lacoste founded La Chemise Lacoste in 1933 with André Gillier, the owner and president of the largest French knitwear manufacturing firm at the time. They began to produce the revolutionary tennis shirt Lacoste had designed and worn on the tennis courts with the crocodile logo embroidered on the chest. Although the company claims this as the first example of a brand name appearing on the outside of an article of clothing, the “Jantzen girl” logo appeared on the outside of Jantzen Knitting Mills’ swimsuits as early as 1921. In addition to tennis shirts, Lacoste produced shirts for golf and sailing. In 1951, the company began to expand as it branched from “tennis white” and introduced color shirts. In 1952, the shirts were exported to the United States and advertised as “the status symbol of the competent sportsman,” influencing the clothing choices of the upper-class. Lacoste was sold at Brooks Brothers until the late 1960’s. It is still one of the most popular brands in the United States, sporting the “preppy wardrobe”.

from Wikipedia’s entry on history of Lacoste

Invariably, when packaging serves as a metaphor for clothing, a consumer naturally tends to anthopomorphize and even identify with the product contained.

(The advertising, after the fold...)

Wooden Bottle Caps

Top, left: Kayla Langhans used wooden caps for her “Find” organic vodka design; top, right: a wooden cap for Espen Hansen’s A.O. Vinje GIN bottle (its box was featured in yesterday’s post); 2nd row, left: “Influence by Fruits & Passion” bottles with wooden caps, designed by Bertuch; 2nd row, center: Elizabeth Linde’s “Vertical for Men”; 2nd row, right: Le Cherche Midi’s bottle with wood cap (via: Lovely Package); 3rd row, left & center: Nasomatto’s fragrance bottles by Alessandro Gualtieri use a variety of wooden caps; 3rd row, right: Every Man Jack’s bottles feature faux wooden caps (via: Sustainable Is Good); 4th row, left: Moag Bailie’s Bio-Oraganic Almay bottles featured wooden caps; 5th row, left: Xtabentun Honey Liqueur bottle’s wooden cap; 5th row, right: wooden cap of TGTL’s olive oil bottle by NTGJ; bottom row: Casper Holden’s “Rawganical”

Following up on yesterday’s post, wooden bottle caps appear to be “trending” in “spirits” packaging and especially in package design for fragrances.

(One more photo, after the fold...)

Wooden Packaging

Top row: Anicka Yi and Maggie Peng’s cedar-encased fragrance bottles; 2nd row, left: Andrée Rouette’s ABCD veneer-covered maple syrup cans (via Packaging UQAM); 2nd row, right:  Espen Hansen’s veneer-covered AO Vinje gin box; 3rd row, left: Society27’s wooden shoebox; 3rd row, right & below: Léo Breton-Allaire’s spruce gum chewing gum concept (via: Packaging UQAM); 4th row left & below right: Maude Bussières’s detachable wooden pencils concept (via Packaging UQAM); 5th row, left: Debowa oak-encased vodka bottles; bottom row: Gerlinde Gruber’s wooden, puzzle-like jewelry box

Packages made of wood (See also: Wood Framed Bottles)

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

Wood Framed Bottles

“Framing the product” might be one definition of what a retail package is supposed to do—providing an appropriate and complementary setting, both to contain and to display a product.

Taking this metaphor literally, these bottles are circumscribed by a signifying wooden frame. While a glass bottle by itself could clearly do the job of containing, the frame draws additional attention, setting it apart from the other bottles on the shelf. Framing the bottle as if it were a work of art or a tromp l'oile representation of a bottle (rather than a real bottle).

The effect is minimal and modern, although some might argue that adding gratuitous elements to an otherwise functional container is not really modern... That a bottle alone is more minimal and that a signifying frame is retrograde and redundant. Like drawing a line around a building. Or UNDERLINING a word that is already in capital letters.

Still, these are not ornate frames, so they are modern and minimal in that sense.

1. DSquared²’s “He-Wood” (top, left) is a fragrance bottle. Most bottles with wooden frames seem to be fragrance bottles, the idea being to visually frame a olfactory product. (via)

2. With Camarc, Ltd.’s wooden box for James Martin’s—(shown at top, on right)—the idea is to visually frame a gustatory product.

Manufactured in a limited quantity and hand-assembled this wood gift box for JAMES MARTIN'S Fine and Rare 20 year old is made with a frame of solid pine and rigid cardboard.

The wood frame also serves as display case for Point Of Sale. A magnetic system in the wood frame holds the bottle in place.

(Other wood framed bottles, after the fold...)

Beautiful Breath: Package Design & Trade Dress Drag

On left: Rigaud’s 1915 Un Air Embaumé packaging; on right: Marcel Duchamp’s 1921 Eau de Voilette bottle

“Duchamp created this “perfume readymade” from an empty bottle of a Rigaud perfume called Un Air Embaumé (Scented  Air) that had been designed by Julien Viard, a sculptor who was known for creating perfume bottles with figural stoppers.”

Victoria Rose Pass
Strange Glamour:
Fashion and Surrealism in the Years between the World Wars

The advertisement above (from eBay) shows Viard’s original bottle design. (A sculptural detail on the side of the Un Air Embaumé bottle is shown on right.)

“Julien-Henri Viard, an award winning French sculptor, worked for his father, Clovis, from 1900 until the father’s death in 1927. Julien continued to run the glass workshop until 1938 when it merged with glass producer Depinoix. Julien is best known for his elegant perfume bottles with many examples surviving until today in collections world-wide.”

Selling Things Webstore

_______________________________

“... the versatility of Julien Viard is such that it is difficult to fit all his work with a single type... a huge variety of containers, with exquisite patina and perfect finishes.”

Museu del Perfum

“Belle Haleine: Eau de Voilette (Beautiful Breath: Veil Water) is the amusing title Marcel Duchamp gave to a work of art that he made — with the assistance of Man Ray — in the spring of 1921. At first glance, it appears to be little more than an ordinary perfume bottle, although readers of French might confuse it with a mouth wash, which, if consumed, would give them, as the label indicates, belle haleine (beautiful breath). We now know that in order to produce this work, Duchamp appropriated an actual bottle of perfume issued by the Rigaud Company of Paris in 1915 for Un air embaumé, the name given to the most popular and best-selling fragrance the perfumery had produced in its sixty-five year history. Advertisements for this product feature a scantily clad female model holding a bottle of the perfume below her nostrils, the essence of the liquid rendered visible as an undulating, ribbon-like shape floating through the air. The model is shown taking a deep breath, her eyes closed and head tilted slightly back, as if to suggest that the scent possess the qualities of an aphrodisiac, rendering powerless all who inhale its intoxicating vapors. It may have been precisely these qualities that attracted Duchamp to this particular brand of perfume, for he wished to draw attention to the woman whose features are depicted on the bottle, his newly introduced female alter-ego: Rose Sélavy.”

Francis M. Naumann
Christie’s, November 2008

Left: Julien Viard; center: Duchamp in drag (Rose Sélavy); right: Francesco Vezzoli, also in drag

(More about Francesco Vezzoli, after the fold...)

2 Lemon Spray Cans

Two lemon-scented air freshener spray cans:

1. Conceptual package design for “True” air fresheners (by Berik Yergaliyev at Good!) relies on a soft rubber spray can cap enabling the user to spray the product as if by squeezing the fruit. (See: Packaging & Plastic Fruit)

Lemon is just one of three proposed scents. (Somehow the ice cream cone seems like the outlier in this envisioned product line... See: One of These Things Is Not Like the Others.)

2. Kuumba’s “Clot” brand lemon tea air freshener spray comes in a spray-paint-style can whose graphics reference Krylon spray paint’s overlapping colored circles/balls. (Although real lemons mainly come in yellow.) Here, the colored circle/balls are given fruit skin texture highlights and lemon leaves.

The “Clot” brand, I suppose, alludes to clogging of spray paint nozzles, but it also reminds me of “lemon curd” for some reason.

(via: Ape to Man)

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

“God Save The Tea” Jamie Reid and Specificity in Punk Package Design

Make International’s “Punk Range” china (designed by Keith Brymer Jones) comes in a carton that references two different Sex Pistols record sleeves, originally designd by Jamie Reid.

Reid’s ransom-note collage technique came to typify “punk” style in the 1970s, but it’s surprising how many packaged products there are today that reference these two specific designs: 1. the “God Save the Queen” single sleeve (& poster) and 2. the LP cover for “Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols.”

As an American, I had the orange version of Never Mind the Bollocks, and I loved the intensity of the fluorescent orange, but I recognize that the earlier British release has more in the way of provenance. (See also: Talking Heads 77 fluorescent orange packaging)

(More, after the fold...)

Atom Bomb Bottles: 2 Kinds

On left: vintage “Atom Bomb” perfume by Jergens (via: iOffer “wanted” ad); on right melted bottles on exhibit at the Hiroshima Peace Museum (photo from: alq666’s Flickr Photostream) 

Yesterday’s post about bomb-shaped bottles leads us inexorably to “atom bomb bottles.”

1. “Atom Bomb” perfume, trademarked by Jergens in 1948, came in a rocket-shaped bottle. (Its bottle cap looks a bit like a Devo hat)

2. Bottles that have been melted by atom bombs, on permanent display at the Hiroshima Peace Museum.

On left: melted bottle on exhibit at the Hiroshima Peace Museum (photo from: Fidel Ramos’s Flickr Photostream); on right: “Atom Bomb” perfume bottle (for sale on eBay for $24.99)

(Jergens “Atom Bomb” trademark and more melted bottles, after the fold...)

Bottles from Dead Horse Bay

For your uncapped-landfill viewing pleasure: here are the bottles, jars and one glass syringe that I selected from Sunday’s trip to the beach. Mud washed out but still with a patina of algae. And a few barnacles.

We’ll take a closer look at a few of these during the next few days. (It’s curated Dead Horse Bay bottle week on box vox!)

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

Packaging & Orthographic Graphic Design

I used to think of orthographic projection strictly as drafting technique: those technical drawings, by which any 3-dimensional object could be described in 3–6 views.

In recent years, however, I’ve noticed it turning up as a packaging scheme (see: Mac G5 box, on right) and it does make a certain sense as a way of clearly indicating what’s in the box.

In packaging, as in mechanical drawing, 3 views are usually sufficient to describe most objects. In Art Lebedev’s Paliha-750 telephone carton, however, he has chosen to feature all six, “You can look at it from all sides, while it’s still inside the box.”

Having the outside of a box so closely correspond with the product it contains, makes the packaging function almost as a proxy. Holding the box, the consumer is, in effect, holding a trompe l’oeil product replica. Each panel serves as a diagram of what’s just below the surface. Almost as if the box was invisible and you were seeing right though it. In situations where an actual die window is not feasible, it’s a pretty neat trick.

Above, Marc Brownlow’s automotive light bulb pack:

Packaging system for a specialty aftermarket automotive company. The package uses orthographic “x-ray” views of the bulbs in lieu of clear “windows” to minimize cost.

Another light bulb packaging project, this one by Oliver Meier, also uses orthographic projection. (via: Packaging of The World)

David Graas’s “Not a Box” package clearly shows an orthographic projection of a hanging light with a round shade, but the joke here is that the cube-shaped box is itself the shade and the light is emitted through the misleading lines of the diagram.

The Heliotropium bottle by CPDS is a similar bait and switch. The box shows orthographic projections of a traditional ornate perfume bottle, but inside the box, the bottle is actually box-shaped. (via: the Dieline)

Internationally it was decided to “hide” a bottle. A bottle is in a bottle. The new hides in the previous. The bottle is a box, the box is a bottle. On each side of the box the bottle’s image, the image of it’s each side is placed. The box is designed in such a way when it opens, the drawn bottle opens too. And inside… inside there is other bottle, the real one.

(Some other examples, we’ve featured before, after the fold...)

Packaging & the Saint Bernard Barrel

On Left: a photo by Daniel Steger showing the rescue cognac/brandy keg commonly associated with Saint Bernard dogs; on right: homemade St. Bernard gear, apparently made from a brown plastic “Barrel of Monkeys” toy container—note the logo. (Photo via: Tremble.com

Above: details from two vintage magazine ads, both substituting the traditional keg/barrel with more contemporary alcoholic beverage packaging. (Both ads in their entirety are shown at the end of this post)

According to Wikipedia, although bred as rescue dogs, “The monks of the St. Bernard Hospice deny that any St. Bernard has ever carried casks or small barrels around their necks.” Apparently this is just a popular myth, possibly started by a painting.

Nevertheless, the myth has been perpetuated and stoked by brandy brands like Hennssey and others...

The implied health benefit—the idea of brandy that could be used as a life-saving elixer—was not lost on other alcoholic beverage manufacturers. Hence, the tongue-in-cheek use of St. Bernards in Michelob Beer and Smirnoff Vodka advertising.

Still, packages that refer to St. Bernard dogs are nowhere near as common as references to barrels in general. I couldn’t find any St. Bernard shaped brandy bottles, for example.... although the “Booze Hound” decanter below left is cute. (Its nose is a cork.)

On left: “Booze Hound” decanter; on right: ubiquitous Avon cologne bottle—their contribution to this concept—(and nearly any other figural bottle theme you can think of)

(More St. Bernard packaging, after the fold...)

Ironman vs. Iron Man

Two Eau de Toilettes for two kinds of (iron) man.

On left: a new red version of Diesel’s fist-shaped bottle for it’s “limited edition” (Iron Man) Only The Brave Eau de Toilette, timed to coincide with the release of Iron Man 2. (See also: Miraculous Reliquary Packaging)

On right: the green Eau de Toilette from Avon & Ironman—(as in: Ironman Triathlon®)

...a sleek yet rugged bottle with an organic feel. The top is designed to look like a bike grip, one of the disciplines seen in Ironman, evoking the athleticism that inspires the fragrance. The powerful black-on-black carton features icons of each of the triathlon sports, with a footprint representing running, waves representing swimming, and tire tread representing cycling.

Ironman/Avon Press Release, October 25, 2009 (via: PopSop)

(Both bottles with their cartons—and one cartoon—after the fold ...)

Level Bottles

On left: “Levelus Spirit Level Perfume”—a recent packaging concept by Art.Lebedev Studio¹. On right: Avon’s 1970s “Everest” after-shave bottle² also featured this idea.

Both bottles are for mens fragrances, but while the Lebedev project is tongue-in-cheek —“...something an elegant carpenter could never do without”— the Avon bottle was meant to be truly masculine and was part of a whole line of manly, tool-shaped bottles.

Avon bottles for sale on J & W Antiques page

I hadn’t realized that the “level” tool is also called a “spirit level”—but, knowing this now, I am not surprised to learn that there is some spirits packaging, based on the same idea. Below is a still from a Level Vodka web-banner ad by John Antoniello of Razorfish.

“Debuting in tandem with a print and broadcast campaign of the same nature, these banners illustrated balance by placing the Level bottle startlingly on its side and using the air bubble within as a balance tool.”

–John Antoniello

See animated versions of the Level Vodka ad: here and here)

And, as is so often the case with ideas like this, it cuts both ways. Whatever the rationale for making a bottle that alludes to a leveling tool—(masculinity, spirit, balance, etc.)—people on occasion, have noticed that a bottle truly can serve the same function. (Hence: the letter to Heloise³, on the right.)

(Another photo of the Avon bottle, a Level Vodka TV spot and some footnoted digressions, after the fold...)

Melting Containers

Two recent “melting” containers—not actually melting, but shaped as if they were.

On the left, “Wash Away All Sins” by Tina Tsang of Undergrowth Design is really a ceramic liquid-soap-dispenser, and not a consumer package... although it could be. (via: Popsop)

On the right is an Agonist fragrance bottle by Åsa Jungnelius of Kosta Boda. (via: The Dieline)

“Melting” seems like such an appealing, sensuous concept, well-suited for any number of product categories. (Ice cream, water, chocolate... “melts in your mouth,” etc.)  There was a nice melting chocolate logo designed by Jesse Kirsch for a hypothetical “Melt” brand of chocolates, but I was surprised that I couldn’t find more containers, designed to look as if they were melting. 

I suppose that “melting” could also be seen as a negative—the failure of the container to hold its shape. As consumers, we may understand the metaphor, but it might still create a certain anxiety in us. If the container is perpetually melting, are we forever waiting for its contents to ooze out?

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

Volt

Photo on left and photo on right were both found on LiveAuctioneers.com

Another light bulb shaped bottle—(see: “light bulb bottles”)—that I somehow missed: A 1922 Baccarat bottle for LT Piver’s “Volt” perfume.

(Some “Volt” advertising, after the fold...)

Flower Bombs and Beverage Grenades

These bottles, both based on hand grenades, have been around for a while. Seems to me, with packaging like this, that the concept is largely metaphorical — as if to say, these products are “bursting” with explosions of goodness. (floral fragrance, fruit flavor, etc.)

Interestingly, the word “grenade,” itself, has a fruity etymology. Based on the French word “Pomme-grenade” for pomegranate, this type of hand grenade was also called a “pineapple grenade” during World War II.

I doubt that these two companies truly want to be associated with war and weaponry. Culturally, we like to watch things blow up and we have a fetish for dangerous objects like hand grenades. Simultaneously militaristic and radical-chic. Not sure if consumers are more inclined or less inclined to accept this during wartime. The human toll of explosive devices (improvised and otherwise) might strain our patience for this particular analogy.

(More photos & more about hand grenade packaging after the jump)

Summer Soles

We recently designed some packaging for Summer Soles, (a Texas-based manufacturer of shoe insoles) that gave us an opportunity to use a favorite printing trick on these die-cut pillow packs: getting a “full color” photo effect from black + two Pantone colors.  Besides the economy of using fewer ink colors, the Pantone “spot” colors can be so much brighter than CMYK alone would have been. Of course, this trick is only applicable if the photo is predominately just one or two colors—(yellow in the flower and the lemon, for example)—and judicious color choices are key.

Randy Ludacer