It's what's outside that counts
April 19, 2012 6:09 AM   Subscribe

Tell me more about the design of alcohol and perfume bottles?

Whenever I go shopping for alcohol, I'm always so wowed by the variety and beauty of the various bottles. My wife and I have even selected alcohols based on the beauty of the bottle from time to time (thank you, Dimple Pinch). The most similar other group of items that I can think of that comes in similarly elaborate and beautiful, yet "useless" (purely decorative) packaging is perfume.

Who designs the bottles for these things? What sort of training is required (I'm sure some knowledge of packaging design, but is there any other training necessary? Some knowledge of glass manipulation? Anything else)? Are there any firms or studios that work in this area? If I were to want to go into alcohol bottle design, what would my next steps be in terms of training, apprenticeships, internships, etc.? And are there any products I'm not thinking of besides alcohols and perfumes that come in similar packaging?
posted by taltalim to Media & Arts (6 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
I know someone who does this for perfume and cosmetics packaging. He has a degree in mechanical engineering and works for a packaging design company. My understanding is that various components -- the bottle itself, the spray mechanism, etc. -- are designed by different people.
posted by neushoorn at 6:15 AM on April 19, 2012


You should be aware when marveling at the bottles ... that the "unique bottle" is also a very valuable piece of trade dress packaging, representing protectable intellectual property, and functions similarly to a trademark or logo.

Copy the dimple bottle shape (or use something too similar) for your cheap knock-off brandy and you will land in court very quickly ... even if everything else is totally different.

(I remember seeing a presentation from (the company owning) Bacardi about this very thing)
posted by jannw at 6:42 AM on April 19, 2012


You can trace the look of the current Coca Cola glass bottle design back to 1915. Its quite distinctive and I bet people from around the world would be able to recognize it.
posted by mmascolino at 6:57 AM on April 19, 2012


Tangential data: I've been cutting wine/liquor bottles and making them into tumblers for our upcoming wedding. I've been using a wet tile saw but I did try the score with glasscutter --> heat --> cool --> repeat until fracture method with some success as well.

Anyway, I was a bit surprised at the variation in thickness/quality across the spectrum of bottles I've been cutting. Grey Goose vodka bottles are by far the thickest I've run across. Liquor bottles tend to be heavier/thicker than wine bottles (unless you're talking about the bottom shelf stuff, wine or liquor, both of which are thin and fracture VERY easily).

Also, in all but the high end of the bottles I've cut I've noticed that one side of a given bottle may be as much as 2x as thick as the other side. The imperfect and irregular nature of some of these bottles has made making tumblers a bit of a pain, but it was interesting to note anyway.

The mechanical engineer in me says that artisan-level glassblowing experience probably has little to do with getting a job related to commercial level bottle design or production. It's probably more akin to an assembly line with product designers and architect types than anything else. So graphic design is about as close as you'll come to the design side... There are some cool things you can do with bottles if you're wanting to manipulate/cut the glass in them, let me know if you're interested in that, but instructables has a plethora of that type of thing.

... um ... So, yea... helpful? Probably not. Informative? I hope so.
posted by RolandOfEld at 7:29 AM on April 19, 2012 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Some of the bottle designs you see are legacies of traditional craft, but most bottle design, like most package design, is a blend of the professions of industrial design/product design and graphic design. Industrial designers use their knowledge of manufacturing processes and industry demands to come up with lots of concept sketches by hand and then usually digital illustrations of final concepts, and often a 3D CAD model that engineers and other manufacturing experts will work from.

Some designers might be experts in liquor or perfume bottles, but many designers are generalists who would consult with experts as needed. The same sort of skills would apply to all sorts of bottles, and it can take just as much work to design a suitable plastic bottle for laundry detergent as it would for a new perfume. (Suitability meaning that it works well, looks good and communicates the brand.)

This book looks like a good survey. All sorts of things can come in beautiful packages, but luxury goods like cosmetics, perfumes and liquor are where you will find the most expensive manufacturing.
posted by hydrophonic at 8:17 AM on April 19, 2012 [1 favorite]


An interview with Pierre Dinand, perfume bottle designer. In this video, Dinand and perfume creator Pierre Wulff discusses their cooperation on a project. (It's an ad, but still quite interesting.)
posted by iviken at 10:05 AM on April 19, 2012 [1 favorite]


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