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Absolut has released just 800 bottles of the new line, all of them via travel retail |
INTERNATIONAL. Absolut has launched the new Crystal Pinstripe bottle, said to be the most “luxurious version ever” packaging produced for the vodka brand.
It was launched at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport on 6 September. It will be available exclusively in select travel retail outlets around the world later in the Autumn.
The bottle is the next generation of the brand’s original Crystal bottle, launched last year, and was designed by Swedish duo Skogsberg&Smart. It was hand-blown, hand-cut and hand-engraved in crystal by master craftsmen at the Reijmyre glassworks in the Östergötland region in southern Sweden.
The bottle is presented in a hand-made “treasure chest” case, clad in pinstripe fabric, along with two hand-crafted crystal tumblers and various other specially designed devices. The total number of bottles made is just 800, each numbered and signed by the master cutter after inspection and approval.
“The Absolut vodka Crystal Pinstripe bottle is a unique project for our brand in that it represents a number of our most important brand values: premiumness, superior quality, innovation, our proud Swedish handicraft heritage and also the crystal clear purity which has always been a fundamental asset of our brand image,” said Anders Olsson, Director of The Absolut Company Global Travel Retail.”
He added: “The collaboration with designers Skogsberg&Smart and the craftsmen at Reijmyre glassworks is yet another exciting and innovative venture in our proud tradition of creative partnerships that started back in 1985, with the groundbreaking Absolut Warhol campaign.”
The bottle is inspired by the Savile Row pinstripe suit. According to the brand owner, this is said to be “the ultimate symbol of established elegance and sophistication, both in its classic, London City three-piece version and in the funkier guises that were re-introduced into the world of fashion back in the 1980s by designers such as Jean-Paul Gaultier and Claude Montana, and by stars the likes of Madonna, Grace Jones and Bryan Ferry.”
“We’ve been inspired by Savile Row both in the sharp, simple yet sophisticated elegance of the design and in the uncompromising attitude to quality and handicraft, where each garment is tailored individually to measure, just like our bottles,” says Magnus Skogsberg of the Skogsberg&Smart design duo.
In addition, a pitch black version of the bottle has been crafted in an ultra-limited edition of just ten bottles. This, said the company, is the most exclusive expression yet of Absolut.
“Our customers in the duty free/travel retail market are a most advanced and discerning target group, constantly on the lookout for something new and unexpected to bring back home – something that can’t be found in the domestic marketplace,” said Olsson. “We are confident that this unique product will satisfy even the highest demands for exclusivity and premiumness way out of the ordinary.”
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The new Absolut expression was designed by Swedish duo Skogsberg&Smart |
