Zero Thick: When The Package Is Also The Product
by Karin Kloosterman, Jerusalem, Israel on 11.13.06
Why is it, that manufacturers of jam, fruit juice and wine can sell products cheaply and still be able to package their products in glass containers? If glass can be manufactured so cheaply then why should we ever spend more than a quarter on a glass coffee mug or glass storage container? And last week when we bought a new backpack for one of our laptops, the salesperson wanted to wrap it in a plastic bag. A bag in a bag, how ridiculous is that?
A couple of Israeli designers, though a step away from making a product we really love, certainly have their design eyes pointed in the right direction. Their packaging concept “Zero Thick” turns the package into the product. Prototypes include packaging for candles, which turns into the candlestick holders, or packaging for pencils which is also made into a sharpener. Israeli’s seem to like the idea of multi-functionality (see previous post on Spin here). ::Zero Thick
Wait, why do candles need packaging? Especially plastic packaging? What's wrong with reusable candle holders? Or with a reusable pencil sharpener? This is exactly the sort of gimmicky crud that gets used once then tossed - exactly the kind of thing we don't need.
Once I bought a carry-on bag as a Christmas Present and I was thinking the same sort of thing when I was taking it to the airport wrapped in a box.
And after the candles melt, what do you do with the plastic container, throw it out? I guess we are back at square one. This idea is nice, but it needs the next 7% for the product to be exceptional in this idea of dual purpose packaging and product.
The plastic packaging still ends up in a landfill. Its just delayed (maybe) until the candles are used.
Or you could buy pillar candles which usually come unpackaged.
The problem with this design is that a candle is a finite resource while a candlestick in an infinite one. A candlestick's usefulness is not depleted by using it so the end results would be a junkdrawer full of shoddy plastic candlesticks. The problem of course is that it's not in a design firm's best interest to eliminate packaging because design of the package is a major source of their income. These guys have sold you a box and told you it was a lovely pair of candlesticks, but that doesn't make it any less of a box. I thought we were upposed to be able to think outside of this thing by now.