The judging committee gathered in July to judge entries to Volume 2 of the “10,000 Creators Meet PASS THE BATON” project.

The theme was to recycle the “blue bottle” used by the British brand Neal’s Yard Remedies for their organic beauty products. Because glass is a material that can easily be transformed through processing, we received a wide variety of ideas for products that make the most of the beautiful blue color.

The winning products of this round were selected by Mr. Toyama from Smiles, Mr. Uehara and Ms. Watanabe from Gigi, and Ms. Hayashi from Loftwork.

The significance of using the Neal’s Yard Remedies bottle

Mr. Kajiwara, president of the Japanese subsidiary of Neal’s Yard Remedies, called the bottle a “perfected design” that has not changed for thirty years. The judges all nodded and agreed with Mr. Toyama’s opinion that “the design of the bottle itself is undeniably lovely.”
Mr. Kajiwara, president of the Japanese subsidiary of Neal’s Yard Remedies, called the bottle a “perfected design” that has not changed for thirty years. The judges all nodded and agreed with Mr. Toyama’s opinion that “the design of the bottle itself is undeniably lovely.”

Ms. Watanabe from Kigi said, “Even though you can make anything out of it, that doesn’t quite mean it can become anything.”
Ms. Hayashi from Loftwork agreed. “It wouldn’t mean the same thing if it were made with Ryukyu glass or some other kind of glass.”

The key to winning over the judges would be in how an entry expressed the significance of using the Neal’s Yard Remedies bottle when the glass can be made into any shape.

The three winning designs

Mr. Toyama from Smiles found Wolf.project’s design to be the most fascinating. The designer melted down bottles to make a new bottle that applied almost the same original design but in a larger size to be used as a container for water or food.

Mr. Toyama: “Do you see that? It’s the original bottle, just made bigger. Interesting, huh?”

Mr. Uehara: “No, I didn’t see that…!”

Mr. Toyama: “At my house, I use big bottles to store rice and pasta. Wouldn’t these look stylish like that? They’d also be a great present for wedding guests. It could say something like ‘please fill me with a lot of love.’”

Wolf.project　『Re-SIZED NEAL’S YARD BOTTLE -for food-』

In the end, three unique ideas including Wolf.project’s design above that fulfilled the criteria of “utilizing the bottle’s shape”, “fitting with the Neal’s Yard Remedies brand philosophy”, and of course being “appealing as a product” were chosen to be made into real products. (You can read comments about the winning designs here on this website)

STUDIO BYCOLOR “CANDLE_GLASS”

julien wulff”Bottle recycled toy / art toy”

General comments from the judges

Masamichi Toyama (Smiles)

It was fun to judge this round. The base material was really gorgeous on its own, and it seems like a lot of the contestants really got the Neal’s Yard Remedies philosophy. You could tell that all the entries tried to make the most of the bottle itself. At PASS THE BATON, we call making recycled things that are more fascinating than the original product “going beyond the net price”. Ideas like Wolf.project’s idea to enlarge the original bottle are interesting, and I feel like they have potential. I look forward to seeing the actual product made.

Ryosuke Uehara (Kigi)

This round had a simple theme, and it seemed like everyone had fun coming up with ideas. I also really enjoyed judging them.

Yoshie Watanabe (Kigi)

It’s easy to take things too far when there’s a lot of artistic freedom. I felt like the ideas that made the most of the blue bottle would make for good designs.

Chiaki Hayashi (Loftwork)

Everyone on the judging committee was really impressed, and I feel the same way. Even if you don’t change the entire shape of the bottle, you can use an interesting perspective to create so much new value.

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