Geneva, January 30, 2018 - Innovation and personalization have been at the forefront of the first edition of the “Be Surlyn® and Design” contest, organized by DuPont in partnership with the School of Art and Design (Haute École d’Art et de Design or “HEAD”) of Geneva and the trend agency Beautystreams. Bachelor of Arts students from the HEAD department of ‘product, jewelry and accessory design’, took on the challenge of designing a new perfume cap made with DuPont™ Surlyn®. The jury panel, made up of expert packaging representatives from large brands groups such as L’Occitane and L’Oréal, was headed by the designer Thierry De Baschmakoff. They rewarded Martin Guillet for his original design entitled “MTM - Make Them Melt”.
The judges recognized the high quality and creativity of the designs submitted to the contest, as Thierry Ponton, Perfume Packaging Engineer at L’Oréal, highlights, “All participants managed to integrate the technical constraints of this delicate project to create a new design, starting from a specified material and a chosen universe. Brands know well the challenge of compiling aesthetics, functionality and technical feasibility when designing perfume packaging. All the students’ proposals met the expectations of the contest and the final choice was not easy for the jury." Fabien Leclercq, Primary Packaging Manager at Puig, adds, "The Be Surlyn® and Design contest is a great opportunity to explore the many possibilities offered by this material. The partnership with HEAD Geneva is a real success and I’ve been impressed by the homogeneity and quality of participants’ proposals. It was a difficult choice indeed, as each of them has very well integrated the special properties of Surlyn® while developing a complete and creative product mix." Corinne Fugier-Garrel, Packaging Concept Design Director at L’Occitane concludes, “This contest is a great example of partnership between the academic and the industrial worlds and we hope this type of initiative will be replicated in the future. Meeting with these young designers was truly inspiring and their work is really promising for the perfumery-cosmetics sector.”
On the winning design “Make Them Melt” by Martin Guillet, the jury recognized the student’s great ability to get inspiration from the raw material and to play with the palette of possibilities offered by Surlyn®. Already when he first visited the DuPont European Technical Center in Meyrin, M. Guillet was fascinated by the fluidity and high-transparency of Surlyn®. Inspired by the injection process, he designed a simple, amorphous shape for the new cap, adding different levels of thickness to this relatively massive piece. The design can be personalized with specific color variations. The sketches of the “Make Them Melt” design will be presented on DuPont Stand at PCD trade fair in Paris this week. However, this is only the start of the “Be Surlyn® and Design” story, as DuPont now enters the second project phase to build the mold and produce the new cap. “It is the first time I take part in a design contest that does not stop in the prototype phase and gives us the chance to see our design becoming real, from initial conception to industrial reality” adds M. Guillet.
Maria Carcolé, Marketing Manager Perfumes & Cosmetics at DuPont, concludes, “We are proud of offering students an open window to the industrial world and of helping them meet prestigious designers and brands. We are looking forward to the next phase: the production of the winning design, which shall lead to a beautiful outcome by year end!”
The winning design of the “Be Surlyn® and Design” contest and all recent developments with DuPont™ Surlyn® will be presented at PCD trade fair in Paris on January 31st and February 1st, 2018 (Stand E15).
