Luxe Pack Monaco Awards

2004 Grand Prize Winner
Concept: Origami
Designers: Tatsuyuki Gyotoku and Naoe Kanetsuki, Japan

Tatsuyuki Gyotoku and Naoe Kanetsuki, once classmates at the Chiba University Graduate School, teamed up to design their intricate make-up kit. Gyotoku and Kanetsuki drew from the traditional Japan art of Origami, where intricate three-dimensional designs or mini-sculptures are formed from folding an otherwise normal sheet of paper. The ultra-flat orange powder compact unfolds in two directions, then props up to create a mirror stand. The function of Origami produces a striking appearance in its minimal, sleek design, and promotes a real luxury connection. The overall experience of using the case is one of modern elegance-at the same time graceful, intelligent, fragile, and noble.

2004 U.S. Finalist
Concept: Agent-X
Designer: Garth Roberts, New York

Garth Roberts of New York designed his compact to become a basis for an entire system, which can be used to organize the cosmetics "chaos" involved in beauty-on-the-go. The concept is that it can be combined with additional individual components and updated and personalized in seasonal colors. "The efficient nature of this compact allows women to be modern and still progressively feminine," Roberts states. The packaging and styling is meant to be slick but discreet, the message is to be visually interesting without being overt about its purpose. The outer packaging can also be retained as a carrying case to protect the mirrored exterior.

2003 Grand Prize Winner
Concept: Monte Carlo Dream
Designer: Xavier Ricolfi, France

The 2003 winner was a flat perfume bottle by France's Xavier Ricolfi. The 75-ml perfume bottle design was horizontal, extra-flat, rectangular, and made of glass. The bottle rejects traditional verticality to mimic a diamond merchant's drawer in which the stones roll around freely. Its simple shape reflects both strength and delicateness. The bottle is surprisingly fun in the way it is held, creating a new gesture. Ricolfi explains his thought processes: "This bottle had to be solid and inviolable, but also fragile and sensual. The idea of imprisoning the diamonds in a liquid case came to me-imprisoned, protected, exposed, yet untouchable."