Mission Statement: The Coca-Cola Company exists to ... - Webs

“We need a Coca-Cola bottle which a person will
recognise even if he feels it in the dark”
• The bottler, Benjamin F. Thomas, recognised the requirement for a completely
unique and easily recognisable bottle for Coca-Cola and in 1915 wrote a short brief
which landed in the hands of Alexander Samuelsson, a Swedish innovator whose
passion was working with glass.
• Samuelsson’s search for inspiration found him
poring through the pages of the Encyclopaedia
Britannica where the image of a cocoa bean set
him thinking. His work resulted in the unique
design of the Original Coca-Cola Glass bottle
which was given a patent in 1915, went into
production the following year and consequently
became one of the most iconic pieces of
packaging design of the 20th Century.
The Original Coca-Cola Glass
bottle has also attracted the
attention of some of the world’s
most influential icons including
U.S. Presidents, Eisenhower
and Kennedy; rock ‘n’ roll
icons, The Beatles and Elvis
Presley; plus cutting-edge
style gurus Terry O’Neil
and Terence Conran.
In 2002, a unique
lifestyle collection was
designed with some of Great Britain’s
most influential young artists/designers
who each used the Original Coca-Cola
Glass bottle as the inspiration behind
their one-off pieces. These included a
set of glasses, a sumptuous red velvet
sofa, a limited edition remix record
and a silver corset.
Inspirational icon
The Original Coca-Cola Glass
bottle has been an inspiration
to many people: pop artist Andy
Warhol, whose background lay
in advertising, was taken with
the powerful image of the bottle.
He initially hand drew it and
then screen printed repetitive
images on large canvasses to
dramatic effect.