Surface design...RESEARCH

I've been looking at surface designs for my own bottle, I want the design to be ORGANIC and NATURAL. So I've been looking at some pieces for inspiration, I found these secondary images on the internet whilst researching.

I was drawn to these pieces whilst browsing the web because of it form of the swirls, however I think for what Im thinking of drawing they is too structured. It doesn't seem naturally formed. However this is the idea I want to show in my design, is the image of growth. When I look at these two above it automatically reminds me of growing and developing.

I want this to be combined in the design because for this brief I am developing the bottle design, so on the surface of the bottle I thought I could show this development and growth visually.

I saw this bottle which I had to include on my blog, I just love it!!! The detail in the pattern is beautiful and you can well and truly tell its a design for a female fragrance bottle.

DIAMONDS are a girls best friend

From looking at fragrance bottles in the shops I know that some geometric shaped bottles do not always give off a masculine sense. For example bottles such as Lady Million by Paco Rabanne remind me of a gem or a jewel. This instantly screams femininity. Its form is like an oversized diamond on a ring, so from this does that mean that it is an exclusive range of fragrance?

This bottle represents:

• High quality
• Wealth
• Expensive taste

This is purely from the form of the bottle....

From comparing the bottle to the image of the diamonds you can clearly see the similarities, the way the straight harsh edges glisten.

DEVELOPMENT of my ideas

From the original shape and form of the bottle 'Deep Red' I wanted to not just alter the shape but completely change it with my own twist on things. I thought what better way to do that then to use the negative space around the bottle...you're probably thinking WHAT?! But wait let me explain further.

I have sketched out the basic original shape and place a box around it. Now you can clearly see the negative space around the bottle. I've began to look at how these cut offs and how I can create a new form for the bottle using these.

Nature...beauty is in the eye of the beholder

I've decided to look at Naturally formed shapes in nature to inspire my ideas for the shape of the perfume bottle. From sketching out my ideas I started to see some similarities to petals, and some of the sketches had a floral quality to them. Seeing this I've gone out and photographed some flowers in their natural environment.

RESEARCH...Egyptian Petals

Secondary images of Egyptian flowers in their natural environment. Through developing my sketches I have started to notice a 'petal like' shape, so I began to look at images on egyptian flowers to link in with my research on pyramids. I found these images which caught my eye, they are beautiful and have a naturally amazing colour to them.

Shape and Form.

So i've continued to use this shape to develop the form of the new bottle for the fragrance. Its a very simple shape, but maybe thats what I like about it, its simplicity. See with this one shape I can begin to explore new ways of adapting the form of the bottle.
I began by using the blue foam to create new forms with this basic shape being the basis for my designs.

RESEARCH...Pyramids

In developing the shape and form of the fragrance bottle, I've particularly been focusing on the triangular/pyramid shape. So from drawing several sketches I decided to gather secondary research for a little inspiration. These secondary images show the greatness of the pyramid, I have been looking at this shape because I feel it has a grand sense about it. These particular images are what caught my eye when researching.

Developing my BLUE FOAM

Strangely I have actually come to like using the blue foam, I know it can be fiddly to use, and makes an absolute mess. BUT genuinely it has grown on me.
Lest just say its a work in progress.

I have been working from my sketches and putting these ideas in to action. I began by looking at my earlier ideas which i now think are too masculine for this brief. I think the geometric shape of the bottle makes it less feminine. However I really like the finish of the blue foam. Here is an image of some of my developmental pieces.

DEEP RED advertisement

Here's the TV advert for the fragrance Deep Red. 

Thought it would be interesting to look at for my research in to the fragrance. From this the key line is, "always wait for him to make the first move" could this be included on the bottle, or into designing the new shape?

WORKSHOP 3: Foam

The one thing I definitely found out today is that blue foam gets EVERYWHERE when you're sanding it. We were introduced to using a new material today to form our bottle shapes out of. This material is called blue foam. I found this a very hard material to work with in todays session, but i think that is purely because I have never worked with foam before. I have continued to work upon my first effort since leaving the workshop and I think I might be getting the hang of it.

During the session I used my initial ideas and sketches to work from, and developed these forms using blue foam. When using the foam what i love about it is that I finally get to see my sketches starting to take shape in a 3d form. Now I have got the basics on how to manipulate the blue foam using the saw, and by sanding it down I can continue to develop more bottle shapes using this material.

New to all this....

Because I'm pretty new to all this I have also been looking at other websites like this one...

http://www.cpcpkg.com/magazine/06_03_fragrances.php

WORKSHOP 2: Vac Forming Session

Today we had a vac forming session where we were taught how to form plastics into any shape of our choice. When vac forming shapes like bottles for this particular brief, you can only form half of the bottle. This can then be cut out carefully and glued together to form the finished product. In the session today I played around with different shapes and a number of types of plastic to vac form with.
After the session I have been thinking about how I can use this technique further along in my work. I could vac form my final idea for my bottle design.