JKR

Bottled water is a curious category – on the one hand there are the global super-brands. But each nation and region also has a few local jewels whose fame has not travelled so far. Vichy Catalan is ‘the most recognized mineral water from Spain’. Carbonated, with a very high mineral content, it began bottling in 1889, its source quickly developed into a spa (nineteenth century integrated marketing?). The brand’s regular bottle is so-so, but the one above (seemingly part of a series celebrating the brand’s age) is a fin de siècle joy to behold.

So, it’s a pretty bottle with a Mucha style muse, which makes Vichy Catalan perfect eye candy on the smartest of restaurant tables.  But here is what I think makes it both special and interesting; whilst the packaging, printing and production process has become more sophisticated over the years, oddly the room to do different and interesting things has closed down. Making the factory line run quickly and economically has resulted in a certain streamlining of technical parameters. So, ironically, glass bottles often looked more idiosyncratic and impressively elaborate a century ago than they do today. The line, the line, the flipping efficient line.

However, close inspection of the Vichy Catalan bottle reveals a three colour screen printing process which has been achieved without the typical locating pin needed for print registration (which makes it quite cutting edge). But the design flows all around the bottle, even over the seam. This is generally only achievable by slowing the production speed right down. A laborious approach fine in the distant past, but less acceptable today, where one might be asked to make a screened design only go around half the bottle. So this bottle uses the best of production possibilities today, but also something great from the past – quite neat considering it is a modern celebration of a fine heritage. This might sound like a train spotter’s view of the design, but the results transcend such detail appreciation. An inspiration, I think, for anyone running a limited edition project to consider what opportunities are presented by producing smaller runs of a design.

Below, the ‘regular’ bottle and a previous edition from the brand.