98. OPTO DESIGN
For their 2005 holiday promo, the designers at Opto Design took the number 5 and ran with it. Fashion, politics, sports, pop culture, and peace intertwine in “A Celebration of Fives” for 2005—creating a delicious piece of design candy.

“Since it was for us and from us, both strong design and financial economy were equally important,” notes Brad Simon. When the silver sleeve of the item is opened, a delightful pun or just plain observation is made in reference to the number 5 on each one of the unfolding appendages. On one, recipients are greeted with Coco Chanel’s famous scent that was introduced “on the fifth day of the fifth month in 1921.”

Each overlapping piece of information adds to Opto’s pick for the “best five,” a reference based on Le Corbusier’s five principles of design skillfully illustrated in a bright red aluminum stencil of the Corbu numeral five. Its fun, interactive, intelligent design illuminates Opto’s ability to capture the personality of a project and the spirit of a design, adding charisma and character to something as simple as a number.
Heather Pardew