I really enjoy picking up a product and feeling the quality—the weight and texture of hand-etched leather, for example, or the nubby feel of embossed paper, the subtle shimmer of grosgrain ribbon. Great design does not come easily. There is often an enormous amount of thought and expertise that goes into any product  before it gets into a merchant's hands.

I admire thoughtfulness and care in product design, and I discovered both in the look of a bottle of French liqueur that I recently came across. Robert and I were at a casual gathering when the host, John MacPherson of the Foster Harris House B&B, in Little Washington, announced he had a surprise for us. He brought out a beautiful bottle of French artisanal liqueur called St-Germain and proceeded to make each of us a St-Germain champagne cocktail. We then found ourselves continually talking about not only the taste of this delectable French liqueur but also the look and feel of the mesmerizing bottle. I have posted a picture of it here—and as you can see, there is nothing boring about this bottle, inside or out.

I am a serious Francophile, and everything about the shape and look of this bottle just oozed late-night Paris hotels, smoky Left Bank bars and curvy Art Nouveau Metro entrances. I have no doubt that every inch of this bottle was creatively considered: the glass weight, the feel of the bottle in your hand, the beautiful blue and gold labels. The front and back labels are pure French cleverness. They were designed in such a way that when you look through the bottle, you see a romantic French damask green and gold wallpaper that coordinates with the color of the liqueur bottle cap. They tout their liqueur on the bottle as “Parisian Life in a Bottle,” or “Vie Parisienne en Bouteille.” Mais oui.

Great designs create beautiful illusions, and this one certainly does. This eight-sided fluted container gives the appearance that it has been around since the turn of the century, when in fact it was not introduced to the marketplace until 2007, with much praise and accolades for the liqueur itself: a Double Gold Medal at the 2007 and 2008 San Francisco World Spirits competitions.