In 1947 Earl Tupper, an inventor and chemist at DuPont, designed the unique air- and watertight Tupper Seal for food containers that prevented both spilling and spoilage. He then applied this enhancement to his polyethylene range of Welcome Ware, which he had developed years earlier. The result—Tupperware—became a powerful symbol of suburban domestic life in the 1950s. In addition to its cutting-edge material and form, Tupperware’s innovative marketing secured its success. Brownie Wise, a single mother who ultimately became vice president of the company, devised the hostess-party model, in which housewives could sell Tupperware to earn money independently.
Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen, September 15, 2010-March 14, 2011.
Explore more
From MoMA Design Store
Licensing
Artwork or archival images
If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA's collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).
Audio and film clips
MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit Circulating Film and Video Library.
Text from a publication or the archives
If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA's archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].
Feedback
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please fill out this feedback form.