Fu Xin from Hunan University of Technology in China has won the 2023 O-I : EXPRESSIONS Student Design Awards, run in conjunction with Pentawards.
His design for ‘Forgotten River’ was described as presenting a strong Chinese cultural atmosphere, full of mystery, poetry and romance.
O-I said glass is the ‘ideal’ packaging material to emotionally connect with consumers. The brief challenged young designers to express something important to them, using glass packaging based on the shape of the Attenua bottle from O-I’s Contemporary Collection.
Melianthe Leeman, global marketing director for wines and spirits at O-I, said, “This year’s award entries were the highest standard ever. Fu Xin’s design stood out because of its creative use of printing to tell a complex story and its bold use of monochrome. Many thanks to our partners at Pentawards and Diageo for their support.”
The award was judged by Melianthe Leeman along with Adam Ryan (director, Pentawards) and Steve Honour (design leader, innovation and futures, Diageo).
Fu Xin’s design makes use of O-I EXPRESSIONS RELIEF, O-I’s direct to glass 3D printing solution. The haptic relief print is based on traditional Chinese patterns, incorporating elements such as ripples representing river water, amaryllis representing forgetting, and the Naihe bridge representing no turning back, echoing the brand name ‘Wangchuan’.
In Chinese mythology, the Wangchuan River is the river of forgetting, which has the power to make the deceased forget the past and let go of the worries of the previous life.
