Design expert Professor Dr. Peter Zec gives talk on “Models on the glass catwalk”

What do fashion and glass have in common? This question was the focal point of the lecture “Models on the glass catwalk”, which was given by Professor Dr. Peter Zec, head of the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen and initiator of the red dot design award, at the third “Trendtag Glas” seminar in Düsseldorf, Germany, on 18 September 2008. His thesis was: there are definitely interesting results to be gained when comparing the fashion industry with the glass industry.

Similar to large fashion brands designing collections with a great variety of shapes and thus creating desirable fashion, individual glass products have become a brand thanks to their form alone – such as the Coca-Cola bottle or Riedel glasses. “The form of a glass container gives the brand its distinct character and makes it stand out from the masses,” explains Zec. “Thus we can recognise a jar of Langnese honey, a bottle of Jägermeister and the famous Maggi bottle also without a label.” The fact that design plays a major role also in the glass industry is particularly obvious when products from a range of companies are very similar in taste. “Only a very limited few of us can taste the difference between different brands of mineral water. However, everyone recognises the bottles of Apollinaris, Evian and Perrier.” With this explanation the head of the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen brings home the following message: value creation and value enhancement are primarily a result of form – just by means of form a brand product can be established using relatively low-cost materials and contents.

This year’s “Trendtag Glas” seminar, which was organised by the Aktionsforum Glasverpackung, an initiative founded by the glass container industry in Germany in 2000, was held under the motto “Glass sells”. Science journalist and TV host Ingolf Baur presented the varied lecture programme, in which high-class referents from different industries explained packaging decisions, revealed current developments in the food and cosmetics industry, and cast a light on the latest consumer trends. The programme concluded with a discussion panel of different experts on the topic “Glass – a packaging material with a future?”