Pratt Institute will honor James Gager, senior vice president and group creative director at M·A·C Cosmetics and Jo Malone Worldwide, for his outstanding commitment to package design, at its annual Art of Packaging Award Gala on May 19, 2015 at The University Club of New York. Gager will be introduced by John Demsey, group president of The Estée Lauder Companies. The event, which benefits the Marc Rosen Scholarship and Education Fund for Packaging by Design, will begin with a 6:30pm cocktail reception followed by an 8pm dinner.
 
As creative director and senior vice president for M·A·C Cosmetics since 1999, Gager has been instrumental in growing M·A·C into the No. 1 makeup artist brand in the world. He has conceptualized all creative activity, infusing the influences of fashion, pop culture, music, and art into the more than 50 collections the brand launches annually.
 
In 2010, Jo Malone Worldwide was added to Gager’s creative direction. Prior to joining M·A·C, Gager was the creative director for Prescriptives for 20 years, where he created groundbreaking campaigns for Virtual Skin and the visionary, trendsetting All Skins campaign that identified the importance of reaching out to diverse consumers. Gager received a bachelor’s degree of industrial design and a master’s of science degree in Packaging Design from Pratt Institute.
 
The Art of Packaging Award is presented annually to a beauty industry company or individual that has excelled in the art form of package design.
 
The gala benefits the Marc Rosen Scholarship and Education Fund for Packaging by Design atPratt Institute and attracts leading companies and executives from the multi-billion dollar cosmetics industry. Now in its 26th year, the fund is the world’s only scholarship for master’s degree-level students looking to pursue careers in cosmetics and packaging design. To date, it has provided scholarships to 104 Pratt students, many of who have become industry leaders. Tickets to the gala are available for purchase by calling (212) 925-2507.

M·A·C joins previous recipients including Aramis & Designer Fragrances, Estée Lauder, Avon, Bath & Body Works, Calvin Klein, Clinique, Coty Inc., Coty Prestige, Dior Beauty, Lancôme, Mary Kay Inc., P&G Prestige, Procter & Gamble, Ralph Lauren Fragrances, and Shiseido. 
 
Marc Rosen is an internationally acclaimed entrepreneur and designer. He is Trustee Emeritus and an alumnus of Pratt Institute, where he teaches the world’s only course on cosmetics and fragrance packaging design. Awinner of seven FiFi Awards—the fragrance industry’s equivalent of the Academy Award—Rosen established Marc Rosen Associates in 1989, which provides award-winning design and branding insights to leading cosmetic and luxury retail companies. His designs are in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York and Musée de la Mode et du Textile (The Fashion and Textile Museum) in Paris.Rosen’s 2011 book,Glamour Icons: Perfume Bottle Design, celebrates perfume bottle design as an art form. Book proceeds benefit the scholarship fund at Pratt Institute in his name. 
 
Rosen’s cosmetics and fragrance packaging design course at Pratt Institute has attracted hundreds of students from around the world. The department that houses it, Graduate Communications Design, is part of Pratt Institute’s School of Design and was ranked as one of the top graduate graphic design programs in the country by U.S. News & World Report and collegecrunch.org.
 
This masters-level program comprises a broad-based curriculum in new product and package development, with courses in packaging design, brand development, visual communications, digital technology, marketing, and structural packaging. The final stage of the program is the thesis, which, over two semesters, gives students an opportunity to develop an extensive and innovative project. The Graduate Communications and Package Design Department is chaired by Santiago Piedrafita.