Pepsi-cola / deco / basket-weave / soda bottle design pattern

[SODAPOPBOB]

Let's assume for the moment that the references to Carr and McLaughlin pertain to the ACL label and not the embossed label. With that said, exactly what is it about the ACL label that is so distinctively different than the paper labels that preceded it? And why bring in two high profile architects to design the ACL label?

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

P.S.

Did it really require two major architects/designers to ...

1. Place a circle around the Pepsi Cola signature?

2. Place the Pepsi Cola signature within a curvature wave?

3. And then put the signature/circle/wave within a square?

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

I'm back to this as a possible design influence. I did some additional research on the Aviation Building and discovered it was one of the major attractions at the 1939 New York World's Fair. The Coca Cola headquarters and Walter Mack were both located in New York at the time. I believe its highly possible that Mack visited the fair as well as the Aviation Building. The more I look at the Aviation Building and compare it to the ACL label, the more similarities I see. Especially what I call the 'Paisley' shapes on both sides of the Pepsi Cola signature. Similar shapes can be seen with the Aviation building. I realize this is speculative, but something must have impressed Walter Mack enough to seek out the talents of James Gordon Carr, and I'm thinking that impression might have come from the Aviation Building. As near as I can determine, that sort of architectural design was James Gordon Carr's trademark style!

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Similar shapes like those of the Aviation Building can also be seen in Carr's cooler ...

1939 / Carr

View attachment 171165

1940 / Carr

View attachment 171166

 

[Bass Assassin]

Bob, this is an image from the New York World's Fair. See anything that may have influenced the design of the bottle?

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

First of all, let me ask if it is either a Carr or McLaughlin design? I saw that structure during my World's Fair search but don't recall much about it.


Edited:

Bass

Are you referring to the original 'Embossed' bottle or the later 'ACL' bottle?

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Here's the so called 'Paisley' shape I was referring to earlier. When two of them are placed on top of one another, they form the so called 'Wave' between them.







Which, in some respects, is still being used today ...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

I thought this was interesting! The parts with "italics" are quotes from the brochure it mentions. Especially notice the "Wings of America" which reminds me of James Gordon Carr's "Gull Wing" cooler. Maybe he had a thing for "wings"

Published in the 1939 New York World’s Fair brochure, this description helps to situate the William Lescaze and J. Gordon Carr designed Aviation Building in the context of the fair’s vast landscape. The pavilion sought to incorporate the architects’ concept of “flight in space” and celebrated the “Wings of America” through three themes: travel, defense, and private recreation. The simulated “hanger under-construction” – consisting of a convex facade, centrally inclined body and domed rear – was one of the more “architecturally ambitious” pavilions that year. Inside, semi-life-size commercial planes were suspended from the roof and formed a landing pattern. Displays included contemporary aircraft cross-section cut-outs, with other segments that addressed comfort, economy, technology, and safety.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Homework assignment - due tomorrow ...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

In search of ...

Any member who has a current subscription for "The New Yorker" magazine. According to their website, anyone who has a subscription has access to their archives. I checked and I'm pretty sure they have the 1950 issue with the Pepsi Cola "Baked-in Label" article. Apparently the archives are readable book by book, page by page. Please let me know if you have a current subscription and are interested in helping us out. To subscribe myself would cost about $50.00 a year but I really don't want to do that just to look at one magazine.

Thanks

Bob