…..new design software helps Ardagh to create the perfect citrus
What feels like a citrus, tastes like a citrus, and is immaculately sculpted to look like a citrus? Not a prize winning piece of art, but, thanks to a creative partnership between the UK's oldest, , family- owned jam and marmalade company Duerr's, and leading glass packaging company Ardagh, a striking new jar that is also perfect to reuse.
Ardagh’s designers were given a specific brief by Duerr’s Managing Director, Mark Duerr, to develop a totally unique jar that looked like, and had the feel of citrus fruit. He provided an image showing what he had in mind, and trusted the long-standing relationship between the two companies to deliver the desired impact .
Sales and Marketing Director, Richard Duerr says: “The shape and format of preserve jars hasn’t changed for a long time – consumer research told us that we needed to do something to shake up the category and appeal to a younger consumer.”
What on paper sounded a fairly straightforward project was in fact full of technical challenges. To create a stunning and tactile “citrus” jar to the right size and scale, and replicate the peel effect. The Ardagh design team had to find the perfect balance between meeting the aesthetic expectations of the customer, the practicalities of volume production and the need for outstanding shelf presence.
Through a combination of 3D printing, Prototyping and CAD sculptured embossing, the project evolved through numerous iterative development stages. Clear models (Perspex) were produced as part of this process to replicate what the finished glass jar would look like, specifically in relation to the peel effect on the surface.
A critical tool in achieving the all-important peel effect was sculptured embossing. This advanced design software uses a haptic device, which gives the designer hands-on control to manually sculpt the most intricate and real-life effects on the surface of the container. In this case, the peel of the orange, in glass. A further decision had to be taken about the labelling, which for all previous Duerr’s products had used conventional paper labels. In this instance, as conventional labels would crease over the jar’s spherical surface, a full body shrink label was chosen.
The Fine Cut Sunny Seville and the Thick Cut Classic Seville launched in-store in October 2016, and comes complete with the Easy-Open ORBIT™ caps that have long been a feature on Duerr’s products, plus an easy peel label encouraging post-use collector appeal.
Richard Duerr, says: “The range is packed full of the freshest, juiciest fruit, with natural, simple ingredients. The new packaging will totally transform the fixture, with shoppers already saying they can’t wait to use the jars as anything from candle holders to cocktail glasses once the contents have all been enjoyed!”
Duerr’s Fine Cut Sunny Seville and Thick Cut Classic Seville are available in Tesco stores now RRP: £1.99 and Duerr’s citrus conserves will follow in 2017 RRP: £2.29.
