Bondi Beach Black

Bondi Beach Black is one of six award-winning designs featured in the Avery Dennison “Inspired by Diversity” envelope. Created by Smith Lumen and printed by Rotas Italia, the design utilizes the facestock’s rich color and ability to shine with a variety of printing techniques.

Bondi Beach is a famous beach mecca for surfers in Sydney, Australia. Smith Lumen said this inspired the design:

“A warm summer evening, a velvety black sky that mingles on the horizon with the foam of the ocean waves. This label made us experience the joyous celebration of a day of vacation that has just ended, which continues in the young night lit by the lights of the pubs.”

Rotas Italia comments on the Bondi Beach Black label:

“Fasson Martele Black… a matte, dark and granular background to the eye, with a showy, in-your-face print, with neon relief colors. Shiny, almost glossy, determined, a young effect that doesn’t fear judgment but shows off, amused, from the darkness of the background.”

Our M_usings
In this design by Smith Lumen, the relationship between material and print finishing is critical. The majority of the label is made evident due only to the contrast between the smooth, glossy black varnish and the toothy grain of Fasson Martele Black. Holding the bottle in hand, one is inclined to delicately rotate and overturn it, investigating the reflection of light as one might scrutinise treasures washed up on the shoreline.

The garish FLUO pink, green and orange conjure up memories of hypercolor t-shirts, puff paint and Ken Done paintings—pillars of Australian popular culture in the 90s. The bold, uppercase sans-serif is straight-talking, complemented by (pardon the pun) the stout form of the bottle. This is a considered design in which all elements are congruent.