Students from Hunan University of Technology in China won the 2022 O-I: Expressions Design Awards with a packaging concept for a traditional Chinese health drink.
The brief for this year’s awards was created by O-I and Design Bridge. It challenged young designers to express something important to them through packaging design.
Dizhao Mao, Kang Yu, Zhuolin Wang and LongKai Chen received the award in China following the announcement at the Pentawards Gala Dinner.
As well as the trophy and a sample of the design in glass, the students have the opportunity of a month’s paid work experience at Design Bridge in Shanghai.
Taking O-I’s Attenua bottle from its Contemporary Collection as their starting point, the group used the tactile and colour palette from O-I: Expressions to complete their design.
The result uses embossed printing to mimic the texture and appearance of the gourd (see left).
Bitter Melon (also called balsam pear) is a gourd whose juice has become part of a healthy lifestyle.
HuiGan bitter melon juice represents the idea of ‘bitter before sweet’, advocated by China for thousands of years.
Melianthe Leeman, O-I’s Global Category Director, Wine and Spirits, said, “The judges were impressed by the depth of thought which had gone into this design.
"Its focus on ecology and wellbeing captures the Zeitgeist while its use of colour and the bumps and ridges created by O-I: Expressions Relief bring the original gourd into the consumer’s consciousness.”
All three finalists had their entries printed onto LUX bottles from O-I’s new Contemporary Spirits Collection.
