The Italian OSCARS

Italian Creativity Spurs Beautiful Design and Engaging Features

By Gianni Rubagotti

If you've ever heard the purr of a Ferrari's engine, worn an Armani jacket, or savored the scent and flavor of wine from Chianti, then you know what "Made in Italy" means. Italian design strives not only for beauty, but also for functionality and features that connect with consumers.

If you want to understand every product made in Italy you have to understand in our country, beauty is not just an ideal. It is something we live beside all the time. And we see it every day in our cities as well as in our little towns. Beauty is not alone. The best Italian products add innovative research in materials and technology.

Italy's diverse packaging industry is living with the anxiety and challenge of a global economy. Tullio Uez, Vice President of Confartigianato (Confederation of Craftsman Enterprises) recently noted that 99.4% of Italian firms have fewer than 50 employees. Small enterprises do not always have big budgets for package design and international promotion of their products. This is a great challenge for the creativity of Italian designers.

Sometimes small enterprises appear weak against counterfeiting and unfair competition. Recently, the Italian Chamber of Deputies approved a law to establish the new registered trademark "100 per cento Italia." This trademark will certify products built completely in Italy during their manufacturing process, from the concept to packaging.

At any rate, in these hard times some people say if you are at an international trade fair you can still immediately recognize an Italian man — because his clothes are better than the rest in the crowd. So let's see how Italians "dress" their products in a review of top Italian packages. The theme of this year's Oscar dell'Imballaggio awards program was "Communication," and some of the winners are detailed here.

The Fontenoce water bottle is one example of communication through material and shape. Fontenoce has adopted a marketing strategy in which glass becomes a precious ally to consolidate its presence in hotels, restaurants, and cafés. Personalization is the means the company uses to win over high-end restaurants, and Saint Gobain Vetri helped Fontenoce personalize with molded spiralling lines and a slim, elegant neck.

Multi-packs for all occasions

Barilla reinvented the sleeve in a new way: not just as a tool for presentation and labelling, but also to create a multi-pack. Barilla's marketing department discovered it needed to combine two jars containing sauces and condiments for restaurants, because the contents are kept separate until they are ready to be used. Barilla decided to use a 50-micron sleeve that completely wraps around and connects two jars, one on top of the other.

The two jars have specially shaped bases for stacking and stability when connected inside the sleeve, even when the multi-pack is handled. The attractive designs add to the structure of the two stacked jars, whose shape is carefully designed to offer an easy, safe grip when removing the multi-pack from the shelf.

The twin pack that Elbow Grease used for its combo degreaser pack is actually produced with the same energy and time required to produce a single bottle. This double bottle is manufactured by a single blowing operation. The blowing machine has been set to produce both the main flacon and a second container at the same time, with sufficient capacity to contain a concentrated consumer-friendly refill.

Compared with the conventional solution, the twin pack has substantial savings in energy during blowing, reduces the amount of plastic used by 67%, eliminates double production times and logistics costs, and eliminates the production costs of any banded pack operations. Moreover, since the filling of the two containers can involve two tanks, the twin pack can carry two different products in the same consumer unit.

Paperboard diamonds

The corners of the presentation box of Versace's Crystal Noir fragrance have the shape of a specially cut diamond. Even though the box is assembled with a machine, its line production costs are analogous to that of a more common box. This choice is in line with high fashion clothes studded with crystal droplets, shimmering fringes and rhinestone details quintessential of Versace's "Modern Princess" couture line. Thanks to accurate die-cutting of a plain 1.8-mm-thick carton, the base and lid are then laminated (using an automatic lining machine) with black paste-dyed paper (120 g/m2), which has been previously laminated with a shiny black film. The use of black paper makes it possible to conceal any undesirable white edges.

Before the lining is created, all the text — on the lid and on the base, including the negative barcode — has been hot-printed using golden film. To ensure the base and the lid are aligned and secured to the bottle inside, special checks have been added for alignment. A glossy black coated carton lid with shiny polypropylene coating is inserted to secure the bottle. These components are produced on a machine, but then manually inserted in the packaging. Finally, there is an elegant glossy black thermoformed insert (PVC) to protect the bottle and improve its presentation.

Gruppo X di X Gruppo has entered a new frontier for thermoforming corrugated cardboard. They exploited the cardboard's capacity to change shape to make decorations and 3D containers. The new material, Formable Corrugated and Composite Board (FCCB), is a derivative of the formable Mould Paper. FCCB is the result of joint efforts between Gruppo X di X Gruppo, Cartiere Cariolaro and Europoligrafico.

Made from 100% cellulose, the board's unique characteristics are excellent malleability (stretching of more than 20%), ability to change the size of the wave, use of the wave as a decorative surface, ability to bend (even against the wave), good rigidity, and tear- and impact-resistance. The exclusive mechanical properties of this material lets one create objects such as thermoformed containers for food and three-dimensional text on packages. The board can be printed or enhanced with special surface finishes, such as flocking to get a velvet effect.

Ecology as marketing tool

Ecological packaging is a trend that is not only interesting for package designers but for our environment, too. Last year, Confruit and Tetra Pak joined the Lifegate "Zero Impact" Project and decided to compensate the CO2 emissions necessary for packaging the "ViviG Bio" bio-organic fruit juice. According to the equation Confruit and Tetra Pak used, 5,900,000 fruit juice packs were worth the preservation and the protection of 50,000 miles of Costa Rican forest. This year, Tetra Pak has won the Oscar again with Coop, one of the leading supermarket chains in Italy. Coop replaced the plastic bag normally used to contain bed linen with a cellulose based box for its Collezione Letto (Bed Collection).

The square structure of the box allows the customer to touch the fabrics and cuts material consumption. It can be on shelves to improve its visibility. The box is structured like microwave board where the flat layer is made from Cartalatte™ and the wave from Cartafrutta™. Cartalatte is white and made by recycling laminated fresh milk cartons. Cartafrutta is dark hazel brown and made by recycled long-life packs.

Ecology in the vision of Tetra Pak Italia is more than a scruple of conscience. It is an added value "to be different from competitors" as explained by Michele Mastrobuono of Tetra Pak Italia. During 2004, 41% of Tetra Pak cartons arrived on the shelves from recycled and recovered cartons.

Another ecological development is Naturalbox, the first biodegradable expanded PLA tray for packing fresh food. It's one of the most recent results from the research labs at Coopbox Europe. Naturalbox was created in response to widespread environmental awareness shown from widespread distribution and the food industry overall. Its mechanical strength means it can be used on normal packing lines with stretch film or sealed with PLA film to create a 100% biodegradable pack. The expanded structure also helps to absorb the liquid released from meat.

Naturalbox containers are made from raw materials coming from renewable sources that disintegrate completely after use. Given that they are made from a single material, the trays can also be collected and recycled for other uses. The expansion process is based on atmospheric gases and reduces the amount of raw material actually used. Naturalbox trays are presented in packs made from biodegradable material and designed to reduce to a third of the space taken up in warehouses when compared to conventional trays.

Value-added packages

Tenuta di Marinella decided to introduce consumer information in Braille on its milk containers to help consumers with impaired vision to recognize a company via a suitable system of signs. Braille Pack was made in collaboration with Unione Ciechi (Association of the Blind) in La Spezia. The Braille on the containers was hand-punched and describes the contents just like traditional writing.

The carton is a gable top container for liquid food and is made from bi-polythene coated board or polylaminated board and uses aluminum and/or EVOH. The size of the carton ranges from 250 ml to 5000 ml. This product has enormous social value. Not only are companies opting to use Braille Pack to "talk" to a larger number of consumers, but it also gives them opportunity to become involved in changing society, its customs, and perceptions.

A final package innovation by Gruppo X di X Gruppo seems like out of the future. Gruppo X has designed a light, stackable beverage container called Blistercup, whose base includes a blister containing a water purification agent. This agent has been carefully dosed to ensure the water can be consumed safely, even if the water has a high microbial count. A second compress can also be inserted in the blister to obtain a rehydrating solution. The World Health Organization recommends the rehydrating solution for treatment of intestinal infections due to use of unpotable water.

Gianni Rubagotti is a packaging writer in Italy whose articles have appeared in Italy Converting, Rassegna Grafica, and Rassegna dell'Imballaggio. Gianni can be reached at giarub@yahoo.com.