Bespoke Bottles: Things to consider
Within premium spirits packaging, bespoke glass is often seen as the best way to create a pack design that stands out and is truly unique to the brand. We’ve all been to that pub or restaurant that has gin bottles everywhere as candle holders (certainly a nice accolade if you’re the designer of said bottles!) Whilst story and values are incredibly important, its true to a degree that people ‘buy with their eyes’ and a bespoke bottle certainly helps with that by elevating the packaging experience. But it’s not for every brand, so here are some things to consider and some of my thoughts on the topic having done a fair few of these projects.
1. Ownership of design
With an ‘off the shelf’ bottle, you never own the bottle characteristics or shape. There is nothing to stop another brand within the same category selecting the same bottle for their product. Sure, the labels or decoration would set it apart, but the shape would be the same. With bespoke you can make something that is truly unique and ownable to your brand. Second to this, consistency of supply. A client of mine who I designed a bespoke bottle for didn’t necessarily approach it out of choice but was forced into doing so because the manufacturer of their existing off the shelf bottle suddenly discontinued the product. They were left with two options, re-design onto another off the shelf bottle, requiring label reprints and new photography, with no guarantee that it wouldn’t happen again. Or invest in a bespoke bottle to level up their packaging and be secure in the knowledge they could control the availability of glass as required. So, they did the latter.
2. Cost + Time
This is what sometimes puts people off. With a stock bottle you can get something out into the market with a fairly low commitment to order quantities. With bespoke it requires a bigger order commitment to make it financially viable. There are mould costs to pay the first-time round, and the design time required to develop the bottle is more than if it were an off the shelf project, generally speaking. Bespoke can take longer from concept to completion but depending on the complexity of an off the shelf design, there might not be much in it. A common MOQ for bespoke glass from a European manufacturer is 30k units, but there are some that will do as few as 15k units.
3. The creative opportunity
Within the premium sector, going bespoke opens up the creative opportunities for design. When creatively considered, and carefully crafted, glass can be made to look visually stunning and communicate a brand’s story very effectively. The success of great packaging lies so deeply in how it feels as well as how it looks. The ‘in-hand’ experience that can be created through bespoke glass, can never truly be re-created using stock bottles plus decoration and labelling. So as a designer with many years of experience designing for premium spirits, if you’re thinking about building a brand for the long term, bespoke glass is something to seriously consider from the get-go.
4. Collaboration: “Teamwork makes the dream work”.
I’m a strong believer that the concept design is only the first step in the packaging design process. Where that project can then ‘make or break’ is in the stages that follow. To bring that concept to life requires collaboration between designer and manufacturer. The designer (I) needs to understand what is technically achievable when designing for bespoke glass, that doesn’t mean to play it safe, but there are certain technical aspects that are must haves when designing bottles. I see so many people now showing off ‘bottle designs they did using AI’ and the nearly all of the designs it spits out would be impossible to produce. On the technical side, the manufacturer needs to understand the importance of the creative vision and give constructive input at various stages. Basically, we need to work well together to ensure a good result for the client. I can confidently say that this collaborative approach has helped significantly in getting good results in the bespoke glass projects I’ve delivered for clients. No egos necessary, just the ambition to deliver work we’re all proud of.