packaging
From the very beginning of time man hunted, gathered food and ate were food was found. There was very little need for packaging and storage. Nature provided some packaging in form of shells, gourds, and leaves. Later containers were made from hallowed logs, woven grasses and animal organs. As ores and chemical compounds were discovered pottery was then created along with many other means of packaging and storing items.
Today packaging has many roles. It is used for holding goods for storing, transportation, contains colorful designs that make it more appealing to the consumers, protect products from contamination, theft and environmental damage as well as containing information about quantity of the product and specific ingredients.
It is one thing to design aesthetically pleasing pieces and put them into society, but as designers today it is our duty, not only to design good packaging, but also design packaging and products that will be least harmful to the environment. There are so many products that are packaged and packed again over and over, packaging inside packaging, like miniature yogurt containers, mini juice boxes and carbonated beverage for those busy people on the go, which are packaged and then packaged into a bunch of four or six. There is no concern by the designer regarding the excess waste he/she is contributing to the environment.
Many companies today are designing ‘green packaging’ or environmentally friendly packaging, which are recycled, recyclable or has little packaging that would go into landfills. Some packaging even has a second-use, like glass jars.
Lush Handmade Cosmetics is an environmentally friendly company and states in their campaigns, “ We invent our own products and fragrances, and we make them fresh with little or no preservative or packing...”
Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics is one of my favorite places to shop not only because of all the lovely scented soaps and massage bars, but because they package their products like small mom and pop stores used to years ago, simple.
Most of Lush’s products are handmade and kept in large bulk amounts, like their soaps, solid shampoos and deodorants. The consumer chooses just what he/she needs; the amount is cut and placed in either a reusable tin or wrapped in butcher-type paper.
Lush also prides themselves in using alternative ingredients when they can, for example reducing their use of palm oil by half after researching the effects of the foresting of palm oil in Indonesia and Malaysia. Lush has now found an alternative palm-free soap base, which cuts back on the use of palm considerably.
With today’s concerns about the environment I believe any designer that creates their work with the environment in mind is moving forward and I consider a positive contributor to the design field.
Sources: University of Florida, “A brief history of packaging’ Kenneth R. Berger, reviewed by B. Welt the second
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