…Again. The first time luxury fashion house Yves Saint Laurent came out with their own brand of cigarettes was back in 1985 amidst a flurry of controversy. Now, with even stronger evidence of health risks and numerous anti-smoking groups, it's sure to stir up even more controversy.
It's actually nothing new. Other luxury brands such as Versace, Pierre Cardin, and Cartier have also added nicotine to their line. Though they themselves may not actually produce them, they more than likely licensed out their names to tobacco companies. These "luxury" cigarettes marketed and sold mainly in areas like Asia and Russia, are also easily purchased online.
DPI in Paris last week soaking in local color, sight-seeing, shopping, visiting luxury retail, boutiques, and packaging galleries. A must-see for packaging designers while in Paris is the DesignPack Gallery. Founded by Fabrice Peltier, the gallery is dedicated exclusively to the art of packaging design. Here are some snapshots of beautiful vintage luxury packaging design from Lanvin, Chanel, and Hermès.
Recently Design Packaging was extended an invitation to the Wells Fargo ball park via a large promotional piece. Measuring a whopping 9" x 9" x 6.5" the matte laminated, CMYK printed, and all over embossed invite made quite an impression. Once opened, it reveals three small items: a baseball, a pedestal, and a sensor that plays Take Me Out to the Ballgame. We began taking out the layers of foam to see what else the box contained, but found nothing. "All that for a baseball with stand?"
In this day and age, there is such a thing as over packaging something, especially marketing pieces that will normally find their way to a landfill with the rest of the junk mail. With this amount of foam and board, this was definitely not the most eco-friendly choice to make. Packaging should be smart and sexy without unnecessary bulk. Now if we can just figure out how to turn off the sensor so that it doesn't go off every time we come near it.
Last night Hello Kitty, took over Sephora in Soho. Yuko Yamaguchi made a special appearance autographing cosmetics and accessories from the new line.
We met Hello Kitty and her posse outside where they were decked in ruffles, bows and satin sashes giving away freebies and posing for photos with Kitty fans. Sephora's makeup experts were inside recreating that signature Hello Kitty look on eager clients.
Every year fashion's finest show off the latest trends on illuminated runways, but to get in to their shows, you have to be invited. We thought we'd use Mercedes-Benz fashion week as an excuse to show you some of our favorite picks for 2011 runway shows. Images via Refinery29.
This one isn't from 2011, but still a neat invite as far as packaging design goes. The Air Plant enclosed in the pyramid doesn't need soil since it doesn't grow roots. The runway show took place at the Horticultural Society of New York.
It's been the topic of debate for a while now: to buy a gift or grab a gift card? Let's face it, not all of us are psychic or professional shoppers. On one hand they're an easy choice, just grab the card and go. You won't have to risk disappointment or a return. On the other hand, it can be impersonal and, well, just plain unthoughtful. We wanted to put an end to that, so we developed a distinctive packaging design concept that not only looks great, but is functional as well.
With my morning cup of coffee in hand, a stop-motion video of Paris posted by @pretavoyager (aka Anne Ditmeyer) caught my eye while browsing Twitter earlier this week. I spent two weeks there last summer and watching the video made me miss it.
Two weeks in Paris was perfect, not too short and not too long. Of course I did the usual touristy things like walking the Champs-Elysees, pastries and cappuccinos at Nespresso, watched the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower, toured the Garden of Versailles, the Louvre, rowed a boat at Chateau du Chambord's mote, had lunch at the local brasserie, etc. But I made it a point to satisfy my creative cravings, it is Paris after all.
Packaging gets us excited. That's why when we heard of a packaging museum chock full of over 12,000 retro and vintage items, we became intrigued. Located in London, The Museum of Brands, Packaging, and Advertising features "all aspects of daily life - toys, magazines, travel, souvenirs, fashion, and design." Robert Opie, the founder, curator and collector opened the quaint museum in 1984 and has been a source of inspiration and nostalgia ever since. The museum sponsors include Kellogg's, Cadbury, and Europe's Vodafone.
There are many sweet creations made during the holiday season, but none is more traditional and spectacular than a Bûche de Neol (or Yule Log, as we say here in the states). Pierre Hermé, a french purveyor of luxury sweet treats, created his rendition using three sectioned layers of the "log", chocolate ganache from Venezuela, bark made of almond paste, and an axe to top it off. And for 120 Euros, it will be perfect for your next fete (that's "celebration" in french).
We take health seriously. That's why when we heard about Movember, we jumped at the chance. Of course it's all in serious fun. The premise? For the entire month of November, grow a moustache, and raise awareness of men's cancers (specifically prostate and testicular cancer). According to Movember.com, we're known as the "Mo Bros", while the girls who support us are referred to as thte "Mo Sistas". This is a world-wide effort where donated proceeds benefit organizations such as Livestrong and the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
Of course we decided it would be a good idea to document our stache stats with photos. View the results below.
Win this set of limited edition, award winning lip balms by Jack Black grooming products! Just in time for the winter holidays, this set includes: Natural Mint & Shea Butter, Black Tea & Blackberry, and Grapefruit & Ginger. And with an SPF of 25 not only will your lips be soft, it'll keep them healthy and protected all winter long.
Package design developed by the Design Packaging team, and printed on silver mylar with a hand-drawn herringbone pattern.
The Phoenix Design Week 2010 ShelvedExhibit, whose focus was Phoenix package design, is a conference hosting 30 national and local speakers, ADOBE training, exhibits, and receptions.
Being featured at the Shelved Exhibit was a unique way for Design Packaging to connect with the area’s design community including advertising agencies, design studios, and packaging aficionados. Our featured items included Juicy Couture's Bible box (also showcased in Lurzer's Archive's 200 Best Packaging), Scottsdale Chocolatier Julia Baker's truffle boxes, Chateau Ste Michelle Artist Series Wine display box, Bulgari's collapsible rigid box with ribbon closure, and Crate & Barrel’s cut & sew linen cases.
Packaging
mockumentary makes a point to reuse/recycle shopping bags in a message to heal
the bay. You can do your part in reducing the use plastics bags with reusable
shopping bags, or upcycling your plastic bags.
Lurzer's Archive, the go-to guide for a collection of the world's best in advertising, photography, and illustration, comes out with their latest edition of "200 Best" (a publication printed only once every two years). This year they focused on packaging, making it "200 Best Packaging Design Worldwide" for 2010/2011.
Design Packaging is honored to have one of it's pieces included on the top 200 list: The Juicy Couture Men's Book Box. Some of the notable judges included: Michael Weinzetti, Editor in Chief of Lurzer's Archive; Mitch Nash, founder and owner of cult giftware producer and design company Blue Q, USA; Shingo Miyoshi, president and publisher for Pie Books, Japan; and Dr. Christoph Haberle, dean of studies, Packaging, Design & Marketing at Hochschule der Medien, Germany.
Through their Artist Series Meritage wines, Chateau Ste Michelle pays tribute to the work of one renowned artist each year. A feast for the eyes and palate, the collection celebrates the passion of each artisan, the winemaker and the artist, offering vintage wines in a beautifully crafted case.
This year’s series utilized a unique design and featured work from the late T.L. Lange whose use of vivid colors paired with abstract shapes offered us endless design inspiration. Hinged together, the box opens to unveil three triangular compartments each displaying a bottle of wine and portions of Lange’s creation. The collapsible design allows for minimal retail shelf space when closed, but still creates an impressive display piece when opened.
We've got friends in great places. Our friends at Jack
Black sent over this surprise pecan pie yesterday (in this laser etched
packaging) and everyone came out of the woodwork to grab a slice. This was just
enough sugar to send us zooming through the rest of the week, and anyone who
knows me knows how much I love food. So this was definitely a great gift,
thanks so much gals!
Bare Escentuals is touring America giving away free make-unders and product samples. Earlier this week, on my drive home, I was surprised to see the QUICKIE trailer passing me. Love the pink against the blue Arizona sky. Check out www.bareescentuals.com/quickie to see when they will be making a stop in a neighborhood near you. And, if you're lucky, maybe they'll pack up all your free goodies in one of the I AM GOING HOME WITH MATTE laminated reusable totes Design Packaging and Bare Escentuals teamed up to make happen! Thanks girls! See you next time.
Page One Hong Kong, a design book mecca. Yes, you can buy books online, Yes you can download books to your ipad… But walk into any Page One storefront and the overwhelming experience of being surrounded by thousands of design titles from around the globe will leave you speechless.
You can browse around the internet for books, in-print, out-of-print and anything in between (whatever that is) but seeing the books on shelf one more interesting than the next is something to experience at least once.
Drop
it Modern backdrop design company's new brochure design.
LuxCrux Creative designed a marketing piece for Drop
it Modern, a photography backdrop design company out of Visalia California.
Being one of the first luxury backdrop companies to make it's move to
mainstream, we needed to design a simple yet effective way to communicate how
the backdrops can change the feel of a photo in a real world application.
LuxCrux Creative develops new look & feel for interior
designer Christopher K. Coffin. We designed the relaunch of Coffin's new look
& feel starting with ads and carrying through to his fresh new site.
Simplifying and narrowing the focus to a concise vision, we wanted the hero to
be Coffin's portfolio and eye for dramatic spaces.
After
seeing Fueledbycoffee's digital sketches from Salone Del Mobile
on-site from his iPad with the help of Sketchbook Pro, I now have a reason for another
Mac product to clutter my counter space at home.
With the
thousands of comps developed in-house at design packaging, we'll be starting a
group for comps and mock-ups, so many packaging ideas go unseen that we really
want a place to highlight these unsung heroes of the packaging world. Many
packaging comps are made to discover faulty engineering, improper folding
techniques, and all of the ugly issues that aren't apparent until the sketch on
your pad becomes a physical working model. These are the ideas that allow you
improve on design, construction, material selection, and anything that may be
overlooked on the trip an idea makes from your brain, down your arm, through
your fingers, and on to paper with the help of your pencil.
When Washington State's
oldest and most acclaimed winery came calling, Design Packaging was ready for a
challenge.Every year Ste Michelle
produces a special vintage for it's Artist Series, this year's artist is Eva
Isaksen.
When
it comes to wine packaging, the visual aspects of the design is only one of
many pieces to the puzzle. Mass production, fulfillment, shipping, product
weight distribution, and user experience, are a few other puzzle pieces that
must be considered before putting pen to paper to begin sketching and
developing new packaging concepts.
Founded in 1985, Design Packaging is a worldwide industry leader in creative, luxury packaging. Design Packaging has generated a loyal following among luxury retailers in the fashion, beauty, and resort industries.
