Ceepackaging

Events

No borders on luxury

1988. At the dawn of the 3rd millennium, during which the luxury
market would explode like never before, the Luxe Pack fair was
held for the first time in Monaco. A new and innovative concept,
Luxe Pack detected right at the very start of the rise in the luxury
market the importance of what could no longer be considered as
a mere detail: packaging.
As an ideal and quest for perfection, luxury is demonstrated partly
through its “casing”, the point of contact between the product and
the user. This precious interface must feature all the values intrinsic
to luxury: creativity, innovation and beauty.
From the outset, Luxe Pack was audacious enough to try and bring
together the greatest experts involved in packaging manufacture to put them
in contact with the greatest luxury brands in perfumery, cosmetics, wines and
spirits and many other sectors. In 2007 this audacity paid off even more
because Luxe Pack had become a brand in its own right, recognised by all
for its unique positioning and the quality of its services
This is the essential meeting point for the luxury industry, an event which has
been a stunning success for the last 20 years and whose offer has been
expanded with Luxe Pack New York, Luxe Pack Sao Paulo and now Luxe
Pack Shanghai – inaugurated next November for the first time in Asia.
A fair in step with its market
Over the last 20 years, the luxury market has seen many sweeping changes.
Originally targeted at a financially comfortable elite, luxury products now
reach a wider and more occasional audience, a public which allows itself to
be seduced by the dream luxury products let them aspire to. This change was
discussed by Karim Rashid, industrial designer, at the conference entitled
“Democratic Beauty” presented this year at Luxe Pack New York.
In the same way, many trends now co-exist without fear of contradiction:
return to traditions and ultra-modernity, search for simplicity and use of
advanced technologies, pragmatism and beauty, and so on.
Far from reducing their importance, these changes have helped to
strengthen and even enhance luxury’s signature values – know-how,
universality, creativity, personality… and transversality. Because the luxury
universe, which shows real art for life, cannot be designed activity by activity;
quite the opposite in fact, it feeds its creativity by seeking inspiration in other
domains. This is a subtle yet vital subject that Gilles Lipovetsky will discuss in
“The new spirit of luxury” during the Luxe Pack Monaco 2007 conference
cycle.
While the West was establishing its economic dominance in the 1990s new
growth centres appeared at the start of the XXIst century, all of them new
niches for luxury product markets – Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe, South
America.
These sweeping economic changes have encouraged a new population to
consume luxury products and have favoured the emergence of new actors in
the worldwide luxury market. Brands and creators who find the source of their
creativity in their own culture and share it with the whole world. An idea of
universal Luxury is spreading as cultures mix.
Luxe Pack’s organisers have perfectly integrated this new world luxury “map”
and have exported the concept to the four corners of the world: Sao Paulo (3
and 4 October 2007), New York (23-24 May 2007) and Shanghai (19-21
November 2007) from this year.
Luxe Pack all around the world

The fifth Luxe Pack New York, which took place on 23 and 24 May confirmed
Luxe Pack’s strategic decision to export its concept to the West with a 21%
increase in visitor numbers.
In 2007, 1 793 people came to discover the latest innovations presented by
around one hundred exhibitors, specialists in the expectations of the luxury
market. This was a record attendance and a success of which Nathalie
Grosididier, General Commissioner of Luxe Pack New York could be proud:
“Both our exhibitors and our visitors felt that the 5th edition of Luxe Pack New
York was the best yet. The event has been able to expand regularly without
losing its atmosphere of an intimate and friendly gathering dedicated to
innovation”.
Luxe Pack New York remains a high performance “multi-sector” fair that is a
real attraction for a wide range of visitors from the industry as a whole: 54% of
visitors come from the Cosmetics/Perfumery market, 11% from fashion
accessories, 10% from fine foods, 7% from wines and spirits, 4% from the
jewellery industry and even 6% from the pharmaceutical market1.
There is no doubt that this new edition of Luxe Pack New York confirms the
market trends we saw last year. What’s more the “new American luxury” is no
longer a trend but a reality which is based around the confirmation of the rise
in range of the perfumery/cosmetics offer and the wines/spirits and fine foods
markets.
At the same time, packaging is playing with higher and higher quality luxury
codes and sophistication is becoming the watch word when it comes to
packaging.
According to the Cap Beauty agency2, spring in the very dynamic North
American market saw many products being launched. In make-up, welcome
to mineral powders, double-function gloss, new products which almost always
require packaging to be adapted. It goes without saying that even
professional, quasi-medical and highly specific care products (treating
individual wrinkles and not just wrinkles in general, for example) require
increasingly ergonomic packaging which shows high performance
application.
At the same time, the search for well-being in which cosmetic products want
to play an active role is extended in packaging that more than ever needs to
be attractive, pleasing and comforting. Food supplements are entering
institutes and the agri-food industry is now taking on cosmetic codes to
enhance the effectiveness of their products.
One other observation: Europe is inspiring the United States3. A forerunner in
many industry domains, the USA is now finding an inexhaustible source of
inspiration in European creativity. European design is influencing American
packaging both in design and in quality return. For the American market,
European inspiration and the exploitation of its know-how provide the
opportunity to stand out from creations from Asia, which are increasingly
present.
Luxe Pack New York 2007’s success is another growth stage for the fair whose
specific nature is greatly appreciated. Each year, this fair which is not too big,
is friendly and is very professional develops an offer and visiting public which
are more and more qualified, as well as a packed programme of seminars
and conferences.
From year to year this business-favourable climate is enhanced with
presentations of truly innovating, creative and new concepts.
On Asian time

When they wanted to meet decision-makers at major luxury brands, Luxe
Pack’s organisers simply could not miss the stunning development of Asia,
and especially China. With an increase in GDP of over 10 %4 over the last 3
years, China is developing increasingly significant purchasing power. By 2010
over 250 million Chinese people will be able to afford luxury products in all
domains. This increase in resources is accompanied by a change in culture,
changing tastes and consumption habits: this year, Asia accounted for almost
half of the world’s spirits’ consumption. With a definite taste for Cognac, the
Chinese should be developing their palates to the extent that in 3 years time
China will be the second-largest market in consumption terms just behind the
United States! In the same vein, sales of cosmetics have increased by 15%
over the last 10 years and with them there is unprecedented scope for
creativity and packaging.
The Asian, and more particularly Chinese, stage is seeing the emergence of
new creators and designers who apply their innovative vision and their own
perception of events to products. Luxe Pack therefore finds a legitimate
place in Shanghai, a real shop window for luxury, brands and creation. The
first Luxe Pack Shanghai, designed as an intimate “club” setting, has set itself
the objective of generating vital contacts, targeted and favoured, in terms of
business. This mixed fair will host 50% of Asian exhibitors and 50% of western
exhibitors who are setting their stall out from the start: to be more than just a
trade fair, to become a real gateway between cultures and civilisations. This
area for exchange is a first, an event which provides an entrance into a vast
market, with unlimited potential. To be inaugurated on 19 November, the first
Luxe Pack Shanghai will transform the Shanghai International Convention
Center into a luxury packaging crossroads, open to the new generation of
brands and creations produced by the Asian stage.
These new actors in the luxury market, who need partners they can trust to
succeed with their packaging strategy, will find a network of luxury
packaging experts open to the Asian market at Luxe Pack.