Unique Bourbon Bottle Scores Hole-in-One in Student Glass Packaging Design Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Scott DeFife, sdefife@gpi.org

Unique Bourbon Bottle Scores Hole-in-One in Student Glass Packaging Design Competition 
The Glass Packaging Institute is proud to announce the winners of the 2025 Michigan State University School of Packaging Design Competition 

ARLINGTON, VA — September 30, 2025 - The Glass Packaging Institute (GPI), in partnership with Michigan State University (MSU) School of Packaging, announced today the winners of the 2025 Glass Packaging Design Competition.

The first-place team includes Addie Yakubison, Dylan Konarski, Cole McMillan, Jake Puzdrakiewicz, Melina Gronevelt and Hugo Julian. The team’s concept of a rectangular bottle incorporating a golf club as the neck with a cork stopper creates great shelf appeal.

Ardagh Glass Packaging-North America (AGP-North America) hosted Addie Yakubison, Dylan Konarski, Jake Puzdrakiewicz, Melina Gronevelt and Hugo Julian from the MSU competition winning team and their instructor, Dr. Alyssa Harben, for a tour of their Winchester, Ind., glass manufacturing facility. They also welcomed the group to their corporate office in Indianapolis, which included presentations from AGP-North America leadership on the glassmaking process, quality, new product development and product design. Ardagh presented the team with a Lucite model of their bottle design, which will be displayed alongside models of past winners of the competition.

Dylan Konarski, an MSU Packaging Design student on the winning team, offered “Having the opportunity to apply what I learned in class and witness the time, effort and collaboration required from so many people greatly deepened my appreciation and respect for the glassmaking process and made me excited to join the workforce. The time and resources that the Ardagh team dedicated to us created an experience I will never forget."

Fellow teammate and student Addie Yakubison said, “There is a lot of thought and detail that goes into a glass packaging design, and working on this project showed me the importance of collaboration, as each team member brought their skills together to create something that we are proud of. In the end it was great to see our design come to life and see the glass production process in person.” 

“The GPI Academic Program and the MSU Glass Packaging Design Competition play a vital role in providing a good foundation about glass packaging and shaping future leaders in packaging engineering,” said Brian Brandstatter, President and CEO of AGP-North America. “This year’s winning concept, with its eye-catching putter design, scored high marks for creativity. We were pleased to welcome the student team and their instructor to our Ardagh facilities and celebrate their achievement.” 

“Thank you to the Glass Packaging Institute and Ardagh for their continued generous support of the School of Packaging,” added Alyssa Harben, MSU Instructor. “The students in the MSU packaging program benefit greatly through this opportunity to develop teamwork, design skills and technical knowledge.” 

Scott DeFife, GPI President added “We are proud to continue to support the MSU Glass Packaging Design Competition. The students always come up with some creative designs and concepts, and we appreciate that Michigan State devotes a class to glass within the Packaging Curriculum. This class allows students to incorporate GPI technical industry production standards into innovative designs.” 

“Special thanks to the Ardagh Glass Packaging team for hosting this year's MSU glass container design competition winner and for Ardagh's continued support of the GPI academic program," said Dale DeVore, GPI Academic Program Consultant. 

The 29 student teams, all randomly assigned from the previous academic year (Fall 2024 and Spring 2025) Packaging with Glass and Metal class, participated in the competition, working on the project throughout the semester as they learned about the design and manufacture of glass bottles and jars. 

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About the Glass Packaging Institute

Founded in 1919 as the Glass Container Association of America, the Glass Packaging Institute (GPI) is the trade association representing the North American glass container industry. On behalf of glass container manufacturers, GPI promotes glass as the optimal packaging choice, advances environmental and recycling policies, advocates industry standards, and educates packaging professionals. Follow GPI on X, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn for updates on all things glass. Learn more at www.gpi.org.