coke15-thorpe1 Marc Thorpe (Marc Thorpe Design), 36 New York City “The design of this carafe is directly inspired by the architecture of the original 1915 bottle. The frosted glass vessel appears to be suspended in space above a high polished darkened steel base. On the base is the laser-engraved logo of Coca-Cola. I wanted to produce a form that not only reflects the historical references of the past, but also symbolizes movement toward the future. The carafe’s inspired details include the exaggerated curvature of the 1915 glass body, frosted pale green glass, vertical top to bottom fluting, and a polished steel cap.” coke15-rockwell1 David Rockwell, 58 New York City “We based our design for a new Coke bottle on the classic 1915 contour bottle. We love it because it’s a beautiful object, but the real virtue was that it was refilled over and over again at local Coca-Cola bottling plants. Each city had its own bottling plant, which was often family-owned. Through reuse, the bottle developed this beautiful beach glass patina. Our new bottle wants to retain the iconic form with those same virtues of being local and recycled. A double-walled stainless steel container can be refilled at vending machines at home and around the world. Stickers dispensed from different vending machines would customize the bottle and track its journey, like travel stickers on vintage luggage.” coke15-ransmeier1 Leon Ransmeier, 35 New York City “In response to the ever-increasing concern about packaging waste and resource-intensive logistics, we chose to eliminate the bottle altogether. Rather than create another plastic or glass container for what is predominantly water, we’ve designed a super-concentrated carbonated lozenge. Simply drop the Coca-Cola Tablet into 16 ounces of cold water and it effervesces to create a refreshing glass of Coca-Cola in less than a minute. Roughly the same diameter as a traditional bottle cap, the Coca-Cola Tablet simultaneously references both candy and medicine, raising interesting questions about health and soft-drink consumption.”

above> image gallery | click > view | 12 images
2015 is a big year for Coca-Cola for it’s bottle is 100 year’s old. The brand is the source of brilliant iconic eye candy that evokes emotion and inspires creativity, be it art, graphic design, advertising, and product design that is the genesis of their vision- the centenary bottle.

To shout out the 100 years the company launched a host of concepts: starting with #MashupCoke, a crowdsourced invitation to reimagine vintage Coca-Cola bottle imagery and iconography using only three colors (more than 130 artists from 15 countries respond); Coke Red, black and white; a slideshow of Vintage Coca-Cola Bottle Print Ads; a worldwide Coca-Cola Bottle Art Tour.

Who else got inspired over the coke bottle? The High Museum of Art in Atlanta launched The Coca-Cola Bottle: An American Icon at 100, showing thru 4 October 2015. Most recently, our friends at Surface Magazine asked 12 USA designers (wish we thought of that) to conceive an object inspired from the original Coca-Cola bottle design that somehow dispenses the beverage. The results shown here were published in a June/July issue. We were pleased to see several designers we are close to included in this leading group: Liz Daily, Felicia Ferrone and Jonathan Nesci.

[ prologue ]
In 1915, Coca-Cola invited 10 glass companies to design a new bottle.The winner,Coca-Cola contour bottle is patented in 1915 by the Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana. The creative brief given to Root called for a bottle that could be recognized when broken on the ground or by touch in the dark. (This brief is inspiring in itself.)

The designers drew inspiration from what they believed to be the product’s ingredients, and incorporated the ribbed, bulbous shape of the cocoa pod into the original bottle design. It is generally considered that Earl Dean, the machinist, is largely responsible for the original design.

The contour bottle is also known as the “hobble-skirt” or “Mae West” bottle for its hourglass curves,

The proprietary standardized light green color also known as German green, later to called Georgia green in homage to the company’s home state.

Chapman Root’s 1916 contract with Coca-Cola outlined that he was to receive 5 cents for every 144 bottles made. He died in 1945 as one of Indiana’s richest men. In 1982, when the Root family sold its 57.5 percent stock interest in the Associated Coca-Cola Bottling Company its value was over 417 million dollars.

below> #MashupCoke

below> #MashupCoke

below> inspired artist drawing a coke bottle

images courtesy of surface magazine