FEATURED AWARDS PROGRAMS

2007 International Water Tasting Awards
People's Choice for Package Design

On February 24, more than 200 people watched at the Country Inn in Berkeley Springs, WV, as a dozen media judges spent hours tasting more than 100 waters from 23 states and ten foreign countries. The annual competition, now in its seventeenth year, usually falls on the day before the Academy Awards (www.berkeleysprings.com).

The crowd was most interested in the People's Choice Package Design part of the competition because they could vote for the product that was the most alluring, and they awarded the Gold Medal to AquaDeco. "We knew our choice of being the 'Academy Awards of Water' was a good one when we saw the entry from AquaDeco," said Jill Klein Rone, the awards program producer. "Their glass bottle has a look remarkably similar to Oscar."

A deco building in glass

AquaDeco is a startup venture by New York City entrepreneur Arnold Gumowitz, who had a vision of "Waters of the World"—a name which he has since trademarked. The ultra-premium 750-ml glass bottles will debut in Paris in late May, and 750-ml PET versions are in production. The bottles are being filled at another Berkeley Springs competition winner, Muskoka Springs, who won a gold medal for the non-carbonated water they bottle in Gravenhurst, Ontario.

A few years ago, Gumowitz went to Flowdesign in Detroit, MI, with the AquaDeco name and a few ideas. One concept was to have the bottle emulate the decorative aspects of the Chrysler Building in Manhattan, a highly recognizable landmark and the second tallest building in New York City.

After that idea faded, Flowdesign thoroughly researched art deco buildings, bottles, perfume, etc. to help generate a one-of-a-kind package. "Our ultimate goal for this project was to combine a unique art deco structural shape with modern label graphics to create a package that would demand a premium price," says Dan Matauch, principal of Flowdesign.

After several design concept directions, AquaDeco narrowed the selection to a bottle shape that stood tall and proud. The shape of the bottle clearly reflects art deco sensibilities with its fanned out fins that taper down to a stair-stepped base. For stability, the dimensions of this heavy bottle's base are very similar to the dimensions of the shoulder. Sourcing the glass bottle was very difficult, but Gumowitz finally found a highly competent glass company in Slovenia, called Steklarna, that could pull it off.

For the front label, a clear pressure sensitive label accented with silver hot stamp contains the custom brand name logo with affinity for the Roaring '20s on. The mountain picture is printed on the inside of the back label and surrounded by a blue glow. Finally, the bottle was finished off with a custom designed plastic cap that flows with the clean tapered lines of the bottle and accepts a tamper-evident seal well.