100 years of the Coca-Cola contour bottle
In 2015 Coca-Cola celebrated 100 years of their iconic glass contour bottle. I was fortunate enough to have been invited to contribute a design for their The Coca-Cola Bottle: An American Icon at 100 exhibition at the High Museum in Atlanta. The brief was to recreate Coca-Cola bottle imagery using only three colours: Coke Red, black and white. I was also one of 130 creatives to have been published in the limited-edition book Kiss the past hello produced by Assouline. During the bottle’s centennial celebrations artwork was featured on Coca-Cola Design social channels, including Pinterest and Instagram for the #MashupCoke project.
Background
"One of the most famous and unmistakable shapes in the world since its introduction in 1915, the Coca-Cola bottle is an influential symbol of design, art, and culture. Identified by its iconic contour fluted lines and described by noted industrial designer, Raymond Loewy as the “perfect liquid wrapper,” the bottle has been celebrated and revered in such mediums as art, music and advertising. From representations as a symbol of mass culture expressed by greats like Andy Warhol and Clive Barker to serving as a reference point for industry influencers such as Volkswagen who compared the shape of the Beetle to the bottle, the Coca-Cola bottle has been a benchmark for the past hundred years. What began as a design brief: to create a bottle that could be identified in the dark or lying broken on the ground, today is one of the most recognised packages on the planet."
Stephen Bayley
Image credit: The Associated Press
