
“We wanted to enhance convenience and portability by going to PET,” says Christina Catalano, packaging design director at the Stamford, CT, spirits company. “Our goal was to achieve a proprietary and refreshing look.”
While the 200-mL glass container being replaced was round with vertical fluting, the new plastic container has a surface that resembles ice cubes. Schmalbach (Manchester, MI) hand etched each mold surface because the mold machining process couldn’t achieve such a complex and random surface. Hand etching was followed by a gentle form of sand blasting, called “bead blasting,” to smooth out the lines in between the cuts.