Original Anthora disposable coffee cup
The Anthora is a design for a disposable paper cup for coffee that has become iconic of New York City daily life.
The Anthora is a design for a disposable paper cup for coffee that has become iconic of New York City daily life.
The cup was originally designed by Leslie Buck of the Sherri Cup Company in 1963, [1] to appeal to Greek-owned coffee shops in New York City, and was later much copied by other companies. [2] Sherri was later acquired by the Solo Cup Company, [1] which in turn was acquired by Dart Container in 2012. [3] The name is said to come from Buck's Eastern European-accented pronunciation of the word amphora . [1]
Sales of the cup reached 500 million in 1994 at its peak, [4] and fell to about 200 million cups annually by 2005. [1] At its peak, up to 15 million cups were used monthly. [2] One New York Times writer in 1995 called the Anthora "perhaps the most successful cup in history". [4] Solo halted production in 2006, [5] but continued to license the design. [6] By 2007, it was mentioned in passing in a New York Times television review as "one of those endangered artifacts". [7] Production restarted in 2015. [8]
Buck never received royalties from his design, but as a salesman he was well-remunerated for the product's success. When he retired from Sherri Cup Company in 1992, he was presented with 10,000 Anthoras printed with a testimonial inscription. After Buck's death in 2010, a New York Times writer described the motto on the cup as having "welcome intimations of tenderness, succor, and humility". [1]
The original Anthora depicts an image of an Ancient Greek amphora, a Greek key design on the top and bottom rim, and the words "WΣ ARΣ HAPPY TO SΣRVΣ YOU" in angular script intended to evoke ancient Greek epigraphy and using Σ to represent the letter E. There are three steaming cups of coffee below the slogan. The blue and white colors were inspired by the flag of Greece. The original capacity was 10 ounces (280 g); 8 ounce versions are also made.
There are also variant knock-offs; a popular one produced by Premier Cup portrays a discus-thrower; [2] others depict the Parthenon, a harpist, and so on, and have variant slogans such as "We Are Pleased To Serve You". [8] [9]
The Anthora has been displayed in the Design Department of the Museum of Modern Art, in an exhibition at the Clark Art Institute on "The Persistence of Classicism", [10] [2] and in an article on "A History of New York in 50 Objects". [11] It has been featured in various movies and television, where it is used to "evoke Gotham at a glance". [1] [12]
In 2003, Graham Hill of the design group ExceptionLab designed a ceramic replica reproducing the construction of the paper cup as a skeuomorph, converting it from disposable to permanent; [13] it is sold at the Museum of Modern Art shop. [14]
In 2004, NBC commissioned a special edition of the Anthora for the 2004 Summer Olympics, including its peacock logo and the Olympic rings. [15]
An amphora is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land or sea. The size and shape have been determined from at least as early as the Neolithic Period. Amphorae were used in vast numbers for the transport and storage of various products, both liquid and dry, but mostly for wine. They are most often ceramic, but examples in metals and other materials have been found. Versions of the amphorae were one of many shapes used in Ancient Greek vase painting.
Caffè latte, often shortened to just latte in English, is a coffee drink of Italian origin made with espresso and steamed milk. Variants include the chocolate-flavored mocha or replacing the coffee with another beverage base such as masala chai, mate, matcha, turmeric or rooibos; alternatives to milk, such as soy milk or almond milk, are also used.
Take-out or takeout is a prepared meal or other food items, purchased at a restaurant or fast food outlet with the intent to eat elsewhere. A concept found in many ancient cultures, take-out food is common worldwide, with a number of different cuisines and dishes on offer.
Sweetheart Cup Company was a North American company that made paper cups, plastic cups and related products. In 2004, Sweetheart was acquired by the Solo Cup Company, which itself was acquired by Dart Container on May 4, 2012.
Bawls is a non-alcoholic, highly-caffeinated soft drink.
Amphora may refer to:
A coffee cup is a container, a cup, for serving coffee and coffee-based drinks. There are three major types: conventional cups used with saucers, mugs used without saucers, and disposable cups. Cups and mugs generally have a handle. Disposable paper cups used for take-out sometimes have fold-out handles, but are more often used with an insulating coffee cup sleeve.
A disposable is a product designed for a single use after which it is recycled or is disposed as solid waste. The term is also sometimes used for products that may last several months to distinguish from similar products that last indefinitely. The word "disposables" is not to be confused with the word "consumables", which is widely used in the mechanical world. For example, welders consider welding rods, tips, nozzles, gas, etc. to be "consumables", as they last only a certain amount of time before needing to be replaced. Consumables are needed for a process to take place, such as inks for printing and welding rods for welding, while disposable products are items that can be discarded after they become damaged or are no longer useful.
A paper cup is a disposable cup made out of paper and often lined or coated with plastic or wax to prevent liquid from leaking out or soaking through the paper. It may be made of recycled paper.
Solo Cup Company is an American manufacturer of disposable consumer products including beverage cups, disposable plates, and bowls. Solo Cup Company is located in Lake Forest, Illinois, and in 2006 had sales of $2.4 billion. On May 4, 2012, Solo Cup Company was acquired by Dart Container.
Dart Container Corporation of Mason, Michigan, United States, is the world's largest manufacturer of foam cups and containers, producing about as many as all competitors combined. Dart Container is privately held by the Dart family.
A single-serve coffee container is a container filled with coffee grounds, used in coffee brewing to prepare only enough coffee for a single portion. They come in various formats and materials, often either as hard and soft pods or pads made of filter paper, or hard aluminium and plastic capsules.
A foam food container is a form of disposable food packaging for various foods and beverages, such as processed instant noodles, raw meat from supermarkets, ice cream from ice cream parlors, cooked food from delicatessens or food stalls, or beverages like "coffee to go". They are also commonly used to serve takeout food from restaurants, and are also available by request for diners who wish to take home the remainder of their meal. The foam is a good thermal insulator, making the container easy to carry as well as keeping the food at the temperature it had when filled into the container, whether hot or cold.
Stanley is an American brand of food and beverage containers invented by William Stanley Jr.
Leslie Buck was an American business executive and Holocaust survivor who designed the Anthora coffee cup, which has become an iconic symbol of New York City since its introduction in the 1960s.
A cup is an open-top container used to hold liquids for pouring or drinking. Although mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring. Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, wood, stone, bone, polystyrene, plastic, aluminium or other materials, and are usually fixed with stem, handles, or other adornments. Cups are used for quenching thirst across a wide range of cultures and social classes, and different styles of cups may be used for different liquids or in different situations. Cups of different styles may be used for different types of liquids or other foodstuffs, in different situations, or for decoration.
A disposable cup is a type of tableware and disposable food packaging. Disposable cup types include paper cups, plastic cups and foam cups. Expanded polystyrene is used to manufacture foam cups, and polypropylene is used to manufacture plastic cups.
Robert Leo "Bob" Hulseman was an American businessman and entrepreneur who was best known as the inventor of the red solo cup, which is produced by his family's company, Solo Cup Company. He also co-designed the Traveler Lid, which prevents foam from hot beverages such as lattes and cappuccinos from touching the drinker's nose, now widely used by Starbucks and other brands. Hulseman joined the staff of The Solo Cup Company, which had been founded in 1936 by his father Leo Hulseman, when he was 18 years old. Hulseman spent more than 60 years at the Solo Cup Company, including as the company's President and CEO from 1980 until 2006.
Jazz is a design that is featured on disposable cups. The design was introduced in 1992, and is considered an icon of 1990s culture. Jazz has also become a meme and has gained a cult following. Fans have applied the design to various objects, including automobiles, shirts, and shoes. Cups with the Jazz design were initially manufactured by Sweetheart Cup Company, which was later purchased by Solo Cup Company in 2004. Solo continued production of the disposable cups, and the Jazz design would subsequently become known unofficially as Solo Jazz.
