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::ALLOY Dives Into Design With Ian Thorpe
When pearl-baron Rosario Autore wanted a high profile Aussie
male to be the face and style of his range of unisex pearl
chokers, he turned to swimming’s golden boy Ian Thorpe.
He worked with Thorpe to create the Ian Thorpe Collection,
a unique range of edgy, urban designs which incorporated
the beautiful South Sea pearls for which Autore has become
known internationally.
When Autore went in search of beautifully designed, high
quality packaging that would reflect the stylish sentiment
of the Ian Thorpe Collection, he turned to Jonathon Worner
at ALLOY. After scouring the world for just the right manufacturer,
Autore looked to ALLOY to deliver a unique package crafted
from stainless steel.
Developed in consultation with Thorpe himself, ALLOY came
up with a simple round, hinged design which, when opened
out, looks suspiciously like a pair of swimming goggles.
“We wanted to develop something that was sleek and
masculine but didn’t take itself too seriously,”
says Jonathon Worner. “It was also important that
the packaging had a quality weight to it. It certainly has
a seductively, cool texture about it. Almost the same smooth
sensation as rolling a pearl between your fore-finger and
your thumb.”
Finished off with Ian Thorpe’s rambling signature
engraved on the lid, the stainless steel container is then
housed in a silver-grey draw-string Lycra bag. Any reference
to Thorpe’s famous swimming costume is purely deliberate
and certainly gives the image of the seriously staid pearl
a nice, witty twist.
Since developing the packaging for the Thorpe Collection,
which will be distributed around the world, Autore has asked
ALLOY to design the packaging for the rest of the prestigious
and highly sought-after Autore collection.
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