Design Moments: Tupperware c. 1946

It took a little over a decade before Earl Tupper’s invention became a household name. Working in US chemical company DuPont in the mid-1930s, he invented a see-through plastic – a by-product of the oil industry – which he made into a container. But it wasn’t until 1946 that his invention, now called Tupperware, was marketed to consumers.

There were many competitors, but Tupperware as well as offering an expanding range of useful designs that fitted perfectly into that new-fangled ubiquitous appliance, the refrigerator, had a unique selling feature. When the lid was opened its airtightness was reassuringly noisily announced by what became known as the “Tupperware burp”. That seal was patented.

Appealing

In the 1950s there was an explosion of colour in the kitchen, with appliances in a variety of colours becoming available, and Tupperware was appealing as it could be made in a range of bright pastels.

Its success in the US was helped by two key societal factors – in the immediate post-war environment it fed into the idea of the perfect thrifty and domestically talented housewife, with a full fridge of wholesome food kept fresh in the stackable containers.

Its prime method of sale – Tupperware parties invented by the company’s visionary executive Brownie Wise – was a form of direct selling that caught on in the newly expanding suburbs and permitted the women who held them to make some money of their own.