Packaging
Gerresheimer displays an expanded cosmetics range at Luxe Pack Monaco, October 28-31, 2008
Wednesday 29. October 2008 - Glass has fascinated mankind for more than three and a half thousand years. Even in 2008 it still has an irresistible impact in the beauty world as an example of perfect synergy between nature, fantasy and technology: as can be seen at Luxe Pack.
From Gerresheimer, specialist visitors to Monaco can expect a real fireworks display of glass shapes, colours, and finishing effects for perfumes and cosmetics in every category. Fascination in glass is not the only focus of this years presentation however: in parallel, the Group is for the first time giving prominence to functionally-oriented plastic-based packaging highlights – an interesting addition to the internationally expanded portfolio (October 28-31 in the Grimaldi Forum Monte Carlo, Stand RC 14).
For the pharmaceutics industry Gerresheimer has for some time been a familiar supplier in the world of both materials. Thanks to a recent Spanish acquisition the Group now also has a strong new plastics presence: EDP – today Gerresheimer Zaragoza, Valencia and Buenos Aires – which was integrated in the Group at the start of the year, adds a wide range of PET-based cosmetics-bottles to the portfolio. Where Gerresheimer has in the past been able to offer only glass, it offers ideal packaging and dosage solutions in the field of hair and skin care in a multitude of attractive variants for shampoos, shower gels and body lotions to name just a few examples. “The product range opens up additional equally important market segments for our cosmetics business at an excellent quality level,” says Burkhard Lingenberg, Director of Marketing and Communication for Gerresheimer AG and its global operations as the Group has now grown to include forty bases in Europe, America and Asia.
Gerresheimer’s traditional cosmetics flagship of glass sails today under Belgian and German flags. In Monte Carlo, specialists from Momignies and Tettau present the innovative product spectrum: an extremely multi-facetted collection ranging from perfume flacons and deodorant bottles to aromatherapy vials, cream pots, make-up jars and even samplers. Its clientele list sounds like an international Who’s Who of the industry: global cosmetics companies such as Avon, Beiersdorf, Coty, L’Oréal and Procter & Gamble today rank among its customers alongside highly-specialised smaller perfume and cosmetics manufacturers; major brand names in the prestige segment are represented as well as leading names in the mass market.
Common to them is above all individual design. The trend towards differentiation from the competition has continued to strengthen everywhere, says Lingenberg: in addition, clearly-defined target groups are addressed more directly and specifically than ever before. “For what could be more individual than personal beauty and charisma? And how could a product communicate this promise more credibly than through the unique personal appeal of its own appearance?”
Fragrances and beauty-care products are after all more than neutral substances – they communicate through emotions. Adidas dedicates to the 2008 Olympic spirit a gleaming yellow creation full of dynamism (‘Olympic Game’), Esprit celebrates its Brand Jubilee with a flacon duo (‘Celebration’), and Playboy also proclaims an unmistakable fragrance brand under its own name. The display contains a wealth of up-the-minute exhibits, each of which tells its own story.
The repertory of design tricks and the spectrum of technologies behind this rich variety are revealed almost as an aside. In terms of shaping, attention is drawn by extravagant curves and extreme formats but also mirror-smooth surfaces, perfectly straight edges and also seamless mergers with the closure cap – an art in itself. In the glass of transparent flacons magical light reflections coruscate, in opaquely coated flacons new breathtaking colour variants gleam forth. Whether embodied through feeder colouring, colour spraying or screen printing in gentle or strong tones, artistic reliefs, misty acid etching, full-surface decoration by the sublimation technique or textile covering: there appears to be no limit to individual design ideas. Even opal glass is offered by Gerresheimer as this glass also has alluringly beautiful properties – they just have to be given the right touch of magic to bring them to life.