A New Look at Latin American Culture

Perfumária Natura, Brazil’s leading cosmetics industry, launched a line called Amor América, with products made with raw materials originating from the Andes and Patagonia regions. To spicing up the launch, Natura bought for USD 1 million, the rights of the poem “Amor América”, written by the famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, published in the book Canto General, known as the great ode to Latin America. By contract, Natura can only use the title of the poem in the campaign. Product associations to the name of the poet are vetoed.

But not only is the name special. The new Natura fragrances find their origin in beautiful and threatened Latin America. Deserts, rainforests, mountains, ice, volcanoes, colours, flavours, sounds, traditions. That is Latin America. In the Andes, Natura found the Palo Santo, a fragrant wood, traditionally used as incense in certain regions of the Cordilheira, especially Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. The scent is meant “to express the respect that the people from the Andes feel toward the mountains and the earth.” And in Patagonia they found the Paramela, an aromatic shrub growing in the deserted and cold fields in southern Argentina and Chile. Its fragrance evokes “the wind that blows freely across the immense expanses of the extreme south.”

With a special name and exquisite products, the packages also have to be special. And they are. The bottles, stylistic reproductions of calabashes, are inspired by the crafted jars and pots of the native people in Patagonia and the Andes. The rounded shapes have definitely challenged the current packaging manufacturing processes due to its complexity. The packages were made combining several different materials including metal, glass, plastics and ceramics which allow consumers to experience different touches. The application of textures adds value and arouses positive feelings about the products, inspiring a new look to Latin American culture.

The pots and jars combining tradition and modern design explore colours, shapes and textures in abundance. They were developed by the designer of the Natura, Filomena Padrón, in partnership with the ‘Dezign com Z’ agency. The misted, ceramic-like glass bottles give a velvety feel, expressing the integration and richness of the biodiversity of Latin America. They are manufactured by Wheaton Brazil, the largest Brazilian glass manufacturer for the perfumery and cosmetics market.

The variety of the material used required a range of specialized converters and packaging companies to be involved.
MBF Embalagens supplied the spray pumps, Incom Packing the closures, while Bristol & Pivaudran supplied the aluminium anodised components. Solev do Brasil was the specialist for the bottle decoration, UV-coating, lacquering, metallization and is even able to offer sublimation.
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Sugar Cane, bamboo and ceramics belong to the oldest packaging materials used by mankind. Although fully natural and sustainable materials neither sugar cane, nor bamboo are used any longer as packaging material and even packaging made in ceramics have a special aureole and are rarely used in mass production. But traditionally saké sits in a bamboo bottle and cachaça, Brazil’s national spirit in ceramics. Modern designers … read the full article