Rebranding & Packaging Progress Report

Summer is the best time of the year to get caught up on creative projects that are important, yet get shoved to the back burner the rest of the year. Something about that extra bit of sun, longer days and time to relax at the beach seems to consistently bring more focus and allow me and my creative team to get fully immersed in such undertaking.

And this year, my graphic designer and I are finally getting this done - rebranding and new packaging design for my 4 collections: Signature, Agent M, Language of Flowers and Liquid Poetry. Here are some snapshots from our very first meeting of asessing mockups for the 3D packaging solutions. Please ignore the hand-cut quality of these mockups. It's the look we're after, not the finesse of the details (which will come later, once it's all printed professionally, cut in the same manner, and hand-assembled by yours truly and my little elves - all known for great attention to detail and meticulous dedication to perfection).


Signature collection - outer packaging treatment. Variation in colours will also reflect each bottle's label.


Agent M Collection - this is more masculine (or possibly unisex). We might have colour variations, but these are the first 3 options for an overall look. Possible to have 2 colour variations for "cool" and for "warm" scents. But no more than that.

Agent M outer packaging treatment.


Language of Flowers Soliflore Collection. 2 different treatments - and the next ones will be somewhere in the middle (and probably vertically oriented...).


Liquid Poetry Collection. These are made of the most exquisite oils, abstract concepts at times, and the focus has to remain the jus in the bottle. Not likely to have any colour variations in the labeling.

The journey continues, and there is still much work to be done on all fronts (not to mention printing, cutting and assembling all these once the designs are ready). But it's all beginning to become clearer and I'm happy that we are making the most out our resources (existing bottles and boxes) yet creating a new fresh look that will better reflect the individuality of each perfume in a less monotonous way (the previous branding established the Ayala Moriel brand; the new branding is supposed to highlight the qualities of each scent or "collection" and make it easier for my customers and clients to pick as scent more intuitively; yet without the risk of visual clutter).

I'm happy to share these with you, and although I'm happy with the direction it's all going and know this is what I've envisioned, it's always great to hear feedback from my customers as well. So feel free to comment!

Pondering A New Bottle

Testing Orcas perfume mod-V in the new 15ml spray size to see that there is no spillage, evaporation, etc. also during travels.

But I'm posting this because I'm curious to hear what my customers think of this new bottle - it's the same shape and style as my 4ml mini, and likewise - these bottles are made in Italy.
The difference is not only the size (15ml - the largest size so far), but also the method of application it will offer: it will be packaged as a splash bottle with the spray attachment on the side, so you can have both options, as you see fit.

The pricing for these will be the same as for the teardrop bottles - because this is basically half the concentration, and roughly double the amount of jus. i.e.: $90-$135 for 15ml EDP.

Edit/clarification: It's been my intention for quite sometime to offer a spray option, and SmellyBlog readers seemed to prefer the 15ml size in a poll we had here back in April. My question to you is how do you feel about this shape - rectangular, and very much the same design as my minis - as the spray option for a lighter concentration of some of my perfumes.

In short -
Yay or nay?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Black Rose's Matchbox History

Two years after I've received a little special gift of Goya's Black Rose in its adorable matchbox packaging, I received an email from Erica Baxter, the daughter of Ruthli Weilenman, who co-designed the matchbox with Jenny Rose, at Goya's packaging studio at Old Amersham, Hertfordshire, England, which was separate from the perfumery. Below is a little piece of perfume packaging history, in Erica's words.

Dear Ayala,

Following your posting in March 2006 about the little matchbox of Goya Black Rose Perfume, with the lovely story attached, I can provide some more information about the packaging.

The Goya factory maintained their own Packaging Studio, located in Old Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England. My mother, then Ruthli Weilenman worked there in the late 1950’s following her training at Watford art school. The studio was by all accounts a happy place to work, full of bright brains and creativity. Mum worked there with a friend, then Jeny Rose, as her supervisor. It speaks well of the balance of staffing that they have remained friends since, with Jeny and her husband recently welcomed at my parents’ Golden Wedding celebrations.

Between them the design was made and produced, in various forms which included the ‘matchbox’ size that you found. These were used for all the perfumes, and were simply a small item for sale in shops. I believe that all of these boxes contained a bottle in the same triple-stacked bubble shape. I also understand that a display board of the various Goya products in these small boxes was used to demonstrate the products to factory visitors – groups such as the Townswomen’s Guild would appear along with a factory ‘boss’ for a tour that was not always welcomed by the studio!

Jeny continues to design, including making stage sets for local productions, and Ruthli is an exhibiting artist, so the creativity was deeply ingrained in both of them, and they were delighted to hear that an item they worked on 50 years ago was able to raise interest today!

With best regards,

Erica

Terry Sunderland

Terry Sunderland graduated from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 1994. He was art director for Adubsters from August 1994 to April 1997 – at that time a record for Adbuster art-director endurance. As well as art direction, responsibilities included all layout, typesetting and production.

Terry’s career is characterized by working with environmental and social marketing organizations. He worked as a chief graphic designer for companies such as Emerald City, Working Design, and Good Company Communications - providing graphic and visual clarity and with his innovative approach to design. Amongst the project Terry worked on were the identity for Options for Sexual Health and the branding and publicity campaign for The Corporation.
With his wit and originality, Terry brings clarity and excitement to visions of a better world.

In 2006, Terry collaborated with Ayala Moriel Parfums in designing the packaging solutions, from labels to the boxes, and including the new look for our website coming up in 2007. Working with Terry was just as fun as seeing the results: sleek packaging and a look that is consistent with my perfumes, personality and philosophy.

Talking about personality, Terry's favourite perfume is Black Licorice. Which I am going to pack especially for him this weekend to celebrate the arrival of the boxes. We waited for that moment for a long time!

Thank you, Terry!

P.s. A couple of years later (June 19th, 2009), I'm updating Terry's portrait here. Since he loves Anime so much I thought it was only appropriate to publish his character sketch rather than a photograph. As you can see his beard has grown recently.

Measurements

I had a feeling for a while when I was filling out the new flacons, that they hold more than the manufacturer's has stated. I finally had the guts to challenge that paradigm today, and measured the content.
These hold 9ml and not 8ml as stated on my website.

The good news:
All of you who bought 8ml parfum in the past couple of months actually got an extra 1ml for free!
I will not be making changes to the current price for the time being, not until the New Year, anyways. The new price will only be about $10 more than it is now, which is still a very good deal for that size of flacon, comparing to other brands who sell a similar quantity.

I will be making the update on the website over the next few days to frelect the real volume of the flacons.

Brewing

I have been too busy to blog in the past few days. The countdown to take-off has started, and the clocks are ticking… Tying loose ends; strategic packing (trying to refine into an art form the virtues of minimalistic luggage); But also lots of brewing: bath oils and massage oils as gifts for family and friends on the front burner, and new scents to be left to marry when I am away. I am hoping to find some great surprises when I am back… Schizm already smells lovely, with the new creamy tuberose and the addition of orange blossom for a vividly sensual white floral heart, and cepes and ambrette to supply the muskiness of the original costus formula. Guilt is starting to grow on me with new crop of chocolate absolute (deliciously smooth and rich, thickly sweet in the best possible way) and infused with luxurious honeyed amber and fruity orange blossom and blood orange. I have been trying to see how it will work without the smoky leathery note that makes Guilt what it is (chocolate and smoking seem to fit the title of the two greatest crimes of pleasure, but they also smell good together) I have been also working on two new soliflores for the summer and am hoping that they will become even better after aging. These are going to be surprises for you, and I will not reveal the singular theme for now.

So back to brewing: I am really enjoying the simplicity of bath and massage oils and have decided to share my pleasures with my immediate family and friends (which I refer to, without their knowledge, as my lab pets). For them I have been concocting luxurious massage and bath oils from almond oils and organic virgin coconut oil, infused with delicious edible scents such as chocolate, licorice, gin & tonic and others. The greatest fun of making one-of-a-kind personal products is the flexibility and room for improvisation. And so I took the liberty to apply some of my underground creativity to the packaging: miniature liquor bottles were freed of their toxic contents and released of their labels and instead were filled with fragrant virgin coconut oil, flavoured with botanical essences. The result is pictured below for your amusement.

Booze Bath: featuring almond oil and essences of white cognac absolute, juniper berry and lime.
Choco Bath: featuring almond oil and essences of chocolate absolute, vanilla absolute and blood orange essential oil.
The lettering, by the way, possesses the unexpected feature of glowing in the dark!

Matchbox Surprise

Here is the little cutie:

To read the full story click here. I have just edited it now to add a few more details and make some corrections. A vintage perfume always keeps more stories than can be revealed by the scent and bottle alone... I feel very lucky to know a bit more about the person that had this perfume before me... To illustrate a few details about her - she was born in New Zealand and moved to London when she was 50 years old. She was very independant and witty, and refused all her suiters and dedicated herself to take care of her old parents. She celebrated her 101st birthday at 1991, so she must be 116 now!