What makes a design classic?
Form and function aside – for me, it’s when these unusual packaging designs and formats come with a real story, real heritage.
Angostura Bitters began its life in 1824 – in the 19th Century the Siegert brothers worked separately on the bottle design, and the label design without comparing measurements – the result was an oversized label erroneously hanging off the bottle.
A competition judge at the time liked the look and commented on how distinctive it appeared – and so, it stuck.
If you’ve ever spotted a bottle of Angostura possibly on every bar across the world – the bottles don’t look new, they don’t look fresh off the back of a wholesale order.
Those bottles look like they have spent an eternity on that bar, weathered, textural – used daily.
And that, is what makes a design classic.
Angostura didn't set out to make a classic – they made a mistake, and kept it
Angostura, Perrier, Absolut, Tabasco, Toblerone, Marmite – packaging design classics. What would it take for yours to join them?
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