# @swedense on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DCOvUvmP3zN
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/30683674-swedense-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/bf6042aa48.jpg
- **Posted:** 2024-11-11T12:00:22.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** sweden.se (@swedense) — https://gondola.cc/swedense

## Caption

Did you know that the classic Coca-Cola glass bottle has some Swedish roots? 🇸🇪

In 1915, the American soda company launched a nationwide competition to design a new bottle – and they aimed high, to say the least. The brief? ‘A bottle so distinct it could be recognised by touch in the dark or even when broken on the ground.' 👀

Enter Alexander Samuelson – glassblower extraordinaire and 19th-century immigrant from Surte, west Sweden, to the US. As the shop foreman of contenders Root Glass Company in Indiana, Samuelson sent two of his men to a local library to look for design inspiration. 📚

What caught their eye? An illustration of a cocoa pod. 🌱

The pod’s elongated shape and distinct ribs would inspire their winning design and the ribbed shape of the glass bottle we know today. 🏆

The patent, much like Coca-Cola’s secret recipe, became a central part of the company’s highly recognisable branding. 🔐

Fun fact: Coca-Cola was forbidden in Sweden until 1953 because of food laws against caffeine and phosphoric acid! ❌🇸🇪

Photos: 1. Jörgen Ludwigsson/Smålands Museum, 2. Records of the Patent and Trademark Office/National Archives (Patent No. 48106), 3. Photographer unknown/Svenska formgivare, 4. Medicaster/Wikimedia, 5. Bertil Samuelsson/Postmuseum, 6. Percy Heldebrandt/Grenna Museum.
#CocaCola #AlexanderSamuelson #SwedishDesign #DesignHistory

## Stats

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## Tags

swedishdesign, alexandersamuelson, cocacola, designhistory

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