Davines’ Divine Collection

M. Vittoria Mangiarotti, Davines’ creative director, explains that there’s much more to Davines’ packaging than meets the eye.

Written by M. Vittoria Mangiarotti

AUTHOR BIO: M. Vittoria Mangiarotti, is Davines’ creative director.

The new Authentic Collection from Davines has been launched in packaging that’s very different from past collections. The name itself —authentic—is a word that reflects our commitment to producing genuine products with originality.

The packaging design was inspired by women and the desire to escape into an “idyllic and beautiful” world that is free from the confinement of the “ideals” of beauty. The products feature four different images of women all drawn by a local artist and inspired by the women of Renaissance era art. They are not idealized images, but images that can represent all women. The plants and animals are the conceptualization of a moment of grace and beauty.

PET plastic was chosen for the Cleansing Nectar and Nourishing Oil because it is high quality, food grade plastic that protects the quality of the product within. PET is client-friendly and functional. Aluminum was chosen for the Moisturising Balm because it is a raw material like glass—high quality but also has an ageless aesthetic. Glass was chosen for the Replenishing because glass highlights the purity and quality of the product. The overall packaging was designed to be classic—to represent “ageless beauty.”

Davines started in 1983 as a family company, and still is. Davide Bollati was a chemist and cosmetologist. He worked at what he loved most in his life.

The sources of inspiration are far from our sector. It’s a matter of respect, primarily. If you look at the others, you’ll end up putting in your project what you liked. It’s like a snake that bites its tail, no improvement. Ideas get diluted and lose power.

Davines has high quality products, like some of our competitors. Quality and transparency are values that other companies have and honor. We have a very humanistic approach to our clients and to the world. We don’t consider our business just a business, for us it is a mission to create beautiful things. If you keep considering your clients people who need a shampoo (or a conditioner), you end up being treated as a shampoo provider. There are so many added values you can put inside a simple shampoo. And I am not talking about benefits. People pay to get results, benefits… it’s like when you go to the shop to buy a bottle of milk and you meet a person telling you something that vibrates in you and makes you wonder…. well, we want to give you a quality product that makes you wonder… .

Ideas are developed out of necessity. The main necessity, quality given, is to enjoy life and let people enjoy the beauty they have around. Generic as it may sound, it works.

Innovation cannot stand for just being something that was not before. Innovation necessarily involves sense and need. Some of our packaging helps. This does not mean that it helps people to use the product more easily, but helps people in thinking about what they can do and further helps people in doing other things at home. Packaging is something people pay to carry home what they need (content) and pay again when the content has been used. If we don’t give honest dignity to the packaging, conceptually speaking, it becomes an enemy for the consumer.

Honestly, I don’t believe it’s a matter of where people live. There are more advanced clients and less spoiled ones. There are more respected consumers and less considerate ones. But everybody recognizes care and respect when they see it. Everybody can catch a good thing or a bad one, if you explain your intention. The problem is ours. Who thinks, creates, projects has the duty to communicate his thoughts. Then people decide. No matter what, they must decide freely.

Our attention to the environment is very high. But we need to deliver a product in perfect condition. This can’t be a secondary focus. Sometimes secondary cartons are necessary. When it is the case, we just use FSC paper/cardboard or compostable paper.

Davines’ most innovative packaging is in the Essential Hair Care line. It’s polyhedric. After its main function of containing our formulas, it can be re-used for many different purposes. It’s food grade packaging so it can be used to store leftovers of food. It’s microwaveable, freezer- and dishwasher-safe. This is intelligent, helpful packaging for furthering goals. Clients pay for something that can honestly serve forever.