PET: protect and perfect

PET: protect and perfect
Designer viewpoint by Steve Osborne of Osborne Pike
Let’s face it, modern life is hard to imagine without plastic bottles. Ubiquitous
within the soft drinks and toiletries worlds, plastic continues to replace glass
and cartons in a growing number of food and drink categories. And until very
recently with the dawning of the age of ‘eco-plastics’, plastic bottles and jars
meant PET.
Producers, consumers and
designers alike have fallen in
love with PET because of its
impressive array of positive
attributes: light, strong, cheap,
highly transparent and very
flexible in form and colour.
Supported by continued
innovation in plastic labels,
sleeves and caps, PET bottles
have been designed in myriad
forms and styles.
The glassiest
Rocket Science
Perhaps the toughest challenge
for a PET bottle is to take over
the role of a much-loved glass
predecessor. This example
from The Netherlands’ biggest
supermarket Albert Heijn passed
my test: pick it up and if your
hand flies over your shoulder,
you thought it was glass.
The world of energy drinks
sports some pretty wacky
bottles shapes, but Lucozade
found a simple and effective
formula and stuck with it.
Allied to the surfboard
graphics, this really does
what it says on the, er, tin,
‘giving you a physical edge’.
Waiter, there’s a
mountain in my water...
Steve Osborne
Form without function,
however, is a waste of space,
so for me the best PET
bottles designs are those
which tell clear, exciting and
differentiating stories...
Bored with wannabe Evian bottles
with a mountain range carved into
the shoulder? Then why not try
one with a mountainous punt?
Argentina’s Tridimage had to
‘push the boundaries of PET blowmoulding technology’, but then
again that’s what it’s there for.
Evian pioneered the use
of embossing to tell its story
in the bottle as well as on
the label. A special pre-form
colour and the translucent
ice-blue cap makes this
bottle look colder and more
refreshing than its competitors.
Respect.
Bright
This is the kind of thing that
PET was made for, and it works
because the designer delivered
a perfectly formed story; not a
half-baked one.
Lord of the Rings
Not the cuddliest bottle in
the world but breathtakingly
different. Go on, count the
rings and make up a story
about that number.
© Beverage Innovation 2011. Reproduced with the permission of FoodBev Media - www.foodbev.com | For details about syndication and licensing please call +44 (0)1225 327890.
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Issue 84 - April 2011