The Awards are staged jointly by the Principality of Monaco and the organisers of November's Luxe Pack exhibition in Monaco. The international winner, selected from national winners in the UK, America, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Japan and Brazil, will be announced on November 4 during the show, gaining a trophy, extensive publicity, and a €10,000 prize.
This year entrants were challenged to design a luxury 750ml bottle of water within the theme "Celebration in Monaco", with each submission required to consider and detail not only the thinking behind the bottle, but equally the selected closure and finish.
On June 1 the UK judging panel, comprising Jonathan Fisher, creative director at design agency Pearlfisher, Steve Wilson, head of luxury brands at Diageo, Simon Berry, chairman of wine merchants Berry Brothers & Rudd, Alice Costes, senior brand manager (imports), Nestlé Waters, Karen Dyer, graphics & presence manager, Coca-Cola Great Britain & Ireland, and Lynda Relph-Knight, Design Week editor, gathered in London to select the UK finalists from 33 varied entries, a 50% increase on last year.
The seven progressing to the UK final, at London's Design Council on the evening of July 7, are: freelance designer Mathieu Collos, with a champagne-style bottle with sandblasted engraved lozenge symbols, recalling the Monaco blazon; Luke Harmer, a staff designer at DCA Design International, with his futuristic "Célébrez" container with clear PTFE "droplet" and platinum circle features; Identica staff designer John Hughes, with a long, elegant, glass water jug-shaped bottle called "Pour" with golden handle and debossed footprint motif; 999 staff designer Lewis Macintyre, with his "Monaceau" clear flint glass container with combined frosted glass/aluminium cap; freelance Remi Debesse, with his particularly eye-catching ice cube container design; Siebert Head staff designer Ben Cox, with an "elegant, minimalist" container based on a champagne bottle and flute; and Identica staff designer Ian Firth's striking pack echoing a billowing yacht spinnaker.
The national winners will each receive €2,000 to develop a three-dimensional model of their project, to be presented during the international final, alongside one year's free subscription to Design Week, full travelling expenses and three nights in a top Monaco hotel.
READER OFFER
Packaging Today is offering 20 readers an invitation to the UK Awards evening, at which the finalists' entries will be showcased. E-mail your details to the competition organiser, Caroline Walker, at: cwalker@wdgazure.com
Luxe Pack 2005 takes place from 2-5 November at Monaco's Grimaldi Forum.
