Pentawards 2021 acknowledges best in global packaging design

Founded in 2007, the Pentawards look at acknowledging excellence in design, and aim to provide a resource of inspiration and connection for the global packaging community.

With 354 overall winners, the Pentawards awarded one Diamond award, seven Platinum, 79 Gold, 130 Silver, and 136 Bronze. The Nxt-Gen Award was also announced, given to the best student entry. In addition, Agency of the Year, Designer of the Year, People’s Choice Award, and Best Newcomer of the Year were announced.

Diamond Award - Best in Show

The Diamond Award for Best in Show was taken by Moët Hennessy for Eminente Reserva. With a crocodile-shaped logo and textured glass bottle, this design was inspired by its native Cuban land that locals call “Isla del Cocodrilo” (island of the crocodile).

The front label reveals the brand logo and product description using embossing, debossing, and hot gold stamping. The back label takes the form of a train ticket, and is an invitation to board for a trip to Cuba. Each of the back labels is individually numbered, making each bottle of rum distinctive.

Platinum - Best of Beverages

The Platinum Award for beverages was awarded to Rita Rivotti for Vinho do Mar.

In the creation of this design, the wine produced by Monte da Caronchina was immersed in the Atlantic Ocean on the Alentejo coast in Portugal for 10 months. The choice to age the wine in this way created an interesting weave of motifs on the bottle, created by the sea.

Platinum - Best of Food

The Platinum award for food was awarded to Han Gao for Nice Cream.

In an attempt to reexamine the food industry’s design style of using images in a regular way, this packaging specifically looks to inject a new vitality into food packaging. The design specifically uses inspiration from healthy habit eating - capturing these habits by highlighting the nutritional elements through the reorganisation of information levels and bright colours.

Platinum - Best of Body, Health and Beauty

The Platinum award for Body, Health and Beauty was awarded to Supple Studio, UK, for Tough Beautiful.

Frahm, the family-owned business responsible for this packaging, created this memorable packaging for their ‘tough beautiful’ mantra through the use of macro-shots of UK native beetles. Done by Supple Studios, the beetle idea reflects Frahm’s technical garments and idea that you can be tough and beautiful at the same time.

Platinum - Branding and Consumer

The Platinum award for branding and consumer went to Xiaomi for Luncheon Meat.

Developed with a young e-commerce in mind, the front expresses the brand through the use of pink and black colours for contrast, and the back transforms the oral expression of ‘eat meat’ in chinese to look like the shape of a pig.

Platinum - Other Markets

The Platinum award for Other Markets was awarded to Bold Scandinavia for Non-Food.

The limited edition packaging series for kitchen storage and cleaning products from Japanese retailer Askul is inspired by the various shapes, sizes and textures one would find in their kitchen.

Platinum - Professional Concept

The Platinum award for professional concept was awarded to Otvetdesign for Stoic.

The packaging realistically imitates the toughness and durability of the glove material, with an effect that looks like there is a sharp object inside the pack that could break the material, but only stretches the surface.

Platinum - Sustainable Design

The Platinum award for sustainable design was awarded to 2Yolk for Oceaniq.

This exclusive line of vegan home care detergents targets environmentally-conscious consumers. The name Oceaniq, is deliberately misspelled to bring ‘Oceanic’ and ‘IQ’ together, to showcase the smart use of plastic ocean waste in its packaging. This product combines packaging made of 100% recycled fishnets from oceans worldwide and mild cleansing, plant-based agents. The product aims to help protect the life of the oceanic creatures which are shown in the original illustrations across the packs.

Nxt-Gen Award

The Nxt-Gen award was given to Gosha Chubukin for Special One.

Special One soda is a social project dedicated to raising awareness of and reducing the stigma of mental disorders among young people. Five special tastes correspond to the five most common personality disorders, whose features are shown using graphic metaphors on the front of the can. On the back you can read general information about the disease and find out the first symptoms.

The packaging also has augmented reality — if you point the camera at the can, the animation will show an interesting fact about the disease. At the click of a button, a person can take a test for the first signs of a personality disorder.

To see all the Pentawards winners, go here.