In the 1890s Van de Velde used the fashionable, highly stylized language of Art Nouveau to advertise a product as mundane as an egg-based protein extract. The late nineteenth century witnessed a revolution in industrial-food processing, starting with coffee, cocoa, and a range of meat and dairy products. Such processed foods and their burgeoning brand identities rapidly became integral to modern living, transforming traditional patterns of shopping, cooking, and at-home food storage.
Gallery label from Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen, September 15, 2010–March 14, 2011.
