The international jury of Pentawards®, the first worldwide competition devoted exclusively to Packaging Design, have announced its 2014 winners. This year, the winners received the global awards in Tokyo, in the Palace Hotel's Yamabuki great lounge.
The prestigious Diamond Pentaward, 2014 Best of Show, was won by the Danone group for the design of the Pure Drop mini bottles of Evian water created by the French agency Grand Angle. In addition to the Diamond Pentaward trophy, Danone received a copy of the Esko Suite 10 software worth R69984 (€5000), an amazing programme for design and visualisation, specially created for high performance packaging.
The Platinum Pentawards awarded to the best packaging in five major categories went to:
- Beverages Category: Happytear (Sweden), for the bottles of Absolut Originality. This limited collection features four million individually designed bottles, making every single one of them a one-of-a-kind piece of Absolut art.
- Food Category: Pesign Design (China), for the packaging of Qian's Gift rice. In the Chinese province of Guizhou, people still apply ancient techniques of rice cultivation, banning chemicals and letting nature do its work to produce the best organic rice. No industrialisation and no modern manufacturing methods were used for packaging the rice: the plant fibre envelope is made by local paper-makers. Indigo is used in this region to dye clothing, so this was adopted for printing the information on the packaging, all applied by hand without any machine.
- Other Markets Category: Studio Kluif (The Netherlands) for the packaging of 'Blonde Poulain' printer paper. Everyone has already seen the portraits people make when they play around with a photocopier or a scanner. This simple idea resulted in a successful design for this small copying/printing paper company from Spain. No photographer or professional models were involved: just the company staff and a scanner. The resulting images are used randomly and customers can choose from nine different faces.
- Luxury Category Lavernia and Cienfuegos (Spain) for the luxurious packaging of 'Extrem' ham. Extrem's flagship product, superior quality sliced ham, deserved a prestigious new packaging, so that it could be bought as a special gift, at a time when the brand was repositioning itself in gourmet shops around the world. The packaging created by the Lavernia and Cienfuegos agency conveys the exceptional quality of the product so that it can compare with other high-end delicacies, such as caviar and foie gras. In matt black, with a contrasting golden handle in the form of a small, elegant pig, it doubles as a serving-tray for stylishly presenting the finest cuts of Iberian ham.
- The BODY Platinum is awarded to Mousegraphics (Greece) for a packaging range for 'Beatific' skin care products. Inspired by art history, the word 'Beatific' reflects the communion with the Divine, so as to be able to share its spiritual light and glory. With this name then signposting the meeting-point of Beauty and Science, the rest of the design follows accordingly: the abstract and ethereal light patterns on the packaging, the use of translucent material, the 4-colour iridescent palette and the simple and elegant typography.
The eighth edition of the Pentawards received over 1500 entries from five continents and 53 countries. Despite the global economic crisis and the widespread cost reduction that goes with it, the Pentawards show an increase of nearly 7% in enrollment over the previous year.
In addition to the Diamond Pentaward and the five Platinum Pentawards, the international jury also awarded 50 Gold Pentawards among the 55 categories competing this year. Silver and Bronze Pentawards were also presented. In total, 28 countries are represented among the winners.
The 2015 Pentawards will be presented in London. Enrollment in the 9th Pentawards will be open from 9 March to 24 April 2015. All relevant information to participate in this international competition dedicated solely to packaging design is on the website
