Marshmallow Fluff!

Serious design envy for this grocery shelf superstar!

The Marshmallow Fluff company was founded in 1920 just up the road from us in Lynn, Massachusetts and numbered two men at its start. H. Allen Durkee and Fred L. Mower, both graduates of Swampscott High and veterans of the United States Infantry in World War I, started out cooking their confections in the kitchen at night and selling them door to door in the daytime.

The packaging was updated in 1947 after expansion. From the Marshmallow Fluff site: A survey covering a wide sample of New England housewives told them that the experts, their customers, thought that the best jar for Fluff would be short enough to fit easily into the refrigerator to be used for leftovers (Fluff requires no refrigeration), and have a wide enough opening to fit a tablespoon into. In addition, the jar was made with a stippled surface above and below the label to make it stronger and more easily gripped. The jar’s longevity in a rapidly changing market is a tribute to its success; the same basic jar is still in use today.

It’s amazing to me how perfect this design has felt throughout my life. It feels so ‘current’ even today! That red top, the sky blue, the typography, the bright primary colors set against blinding white. Perfect.