September 28, 2003 Absolut Meamorphosis 2003 Calendar

For the 2003 calendar, ABSOLUT contacted designers from 12 countries around the world and asked them for an interpretation of the word metamorphosis.
The result is as surprisingly innovative as it is obvious. What else can you expect when you ask a variety of designers – from jewellers to fashion designers and shoemakers – to interpret change. To make matters even more interesting, a trio of photographers working under one name, Blinkk, were in charge of the photography.
Metamorphosis: (a) complete change from one form to another.

For ABSOLUT METAMORPHOSIS – the 2003 calendar – ABSOLUT turned to twelve of the world’s most interesting designers and asked for their perception of the word metamorphosis.
The result is as surprisingly innovative as it is obvious. What better way is there to illustrate changes than through fashion – a profession where change is of the essence. Fashion allows you to dress to suit a mood or an occasion, to blend in or to make a dramatic statement. The diversity of the designers’ creative styles and the way they chose to express themselves made the calendar as unexpected as the metamorphosis itself.
This is apparent in all the photos. In February, for example, two bodies are united by a kiss as they transformed into one (designer Bettina Menditeguy of Argentinean Sangre). In October, the focus is on a falcon, a bird that has a close symbiotic relationship with its keeper. Two hunters, alone, yet together. Now, their roles are inverted. The keeper is transformed into an animal, wearing the hood traditionally reserved for the falcon and she uses the bird’s eyes to see. (designer Katarzyna Szczotarska/Poland).
(for countries that have designers involved the local designers description to be included here as with Argentina and Poland).

The characteristic still-life photography of the Blinkk trio transformed the diverse designs in the calendar into a unified unit.
“In the past five years, the ABSOLUT calendars have been developed from being a simple promotion tool into being one of the most creative and sought-after pieces to work with. The calendars give us a unique opportunity to put some of the world’s most exciting designers in the spotlight. Many of them are well known in their own country but some of them are still waiting for their international breakthrough,” explains Eva Kempe-Forsberg, Vice President Marketing at The Absolut Company in Stockholm.

The designers featured in this year’s calendar are: Sachido Okada for Blaak/Japan, Bettina Menditeguy for Sangre/Argentina, Hamish Morrow/South Africa, Patrik Söderstam/Sweden, Denis Simachev/Russia, Rafael Lopez/Spain, Richard Nicoll/Australia, Hans Stern/Brazil, Georgina Goodman/England, Katarzyna Szczotarska/Poland, Sophia Kokosalaki/Greece, and Markus Lüpfer/Germany.

This year for the first time the ABSOLUT calendar will exist also in various digital formats and on the Internet. Groundbreaking technical solutions provide completely new features and makes it possible to experience ABSOLUT METAMORPHOSIS in a number of digital channels. Subscribe to the exclusive ABSOLUT METAMORPHOSIS online calendar which will keep you updated monthly with events, drinks and interesting facts based around a particular date in history. Display your ABSOLUT METAMORPHOSIS calendar in your own Microsoft Outlook organizer and on your computer desktop. Download wallpapers, start up pages and screen savers for your computer and PDA. And recieve the ABSOLUT METAMORPHOSIS photos and drinks through a number of different channels. The website www.absolut.com/metamorphosis will serve as a hub for the other applications as well as feature content like the facts about the creations and making of-material for the project. www.absolut.com/metamorphosis will be launched 1st of January 2003.

The Absolut Company, a business area within V&S Vin & Sprit AB, is the brand owner and producer of ABSOLUT VODKA, ABSOLUT PEPPAR, ABSOLUT CITRON, ABSOLUT KURANT and ABSOLUT MANDRIN. ABSOLUT is the third- largest international spirit in the world and is marketed in 125 countries. ABSOLUT is made at the distilleries near Åhus, Sweden. The head office is in Stockholm.