packaging as content

March 2, 2010

Melting Containers

Two recent “melting” containers—not actually melting, but shaped as if they were.

On the left, “Wash Away All Sins” by Tina Tsang of Undergrowth Design is really a ceramic liquid-soap-dispenser, and not a consumer package… although it could be. (via: Popsop)

On the right is an Agonist fragrance bottle by Åsa Jungnelius of Kosta Boda. (via: The Dieline)

“Melting” seems like such an appealing, sensuous concept, well-suited for any number of product categories. (Ice cream, water, chocolate… “melts in your mouth,” etc.)  There was a nice melting chocolate logo designed by Jesse Kirsch for a hypothetical “Melt” brand of chocolates, but I was surprised that I couldn’t find more containers, designed to look as if they were melting. 

I suppose that “melting” could also be seen as a negative—the failure of the container to hold its shape. As consumers, we may understand the metaphor, but it might still create a certain anxiety in us. If the container is perpetually melting, are we forever waiting for its contents to ooze out?

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

Comments are closed.