See how the Soviet Union was packed up with these bold and dynamic vintage designs
26 December 2019
Text:
Paula Erizanu
In this Follow of the Week, we’re using Boxing Day as an excuse to go back to the USSR’s vintage packaging design with Insta account @vintage_retro_story.
From glamorous 1950s metal boxes to colourful and dynamic 1980s packages, Soviet design was in many ways aligned with international trends, despite pursuing its own state ideology and socialist-realist aesthetic.
Surprisingly, some of the designs are still being used today, such as the pyramid milk cartons you can see above in the lead image, or this baking soda below.
Natalia, who runs the account, works for a branding agency in Moscow and finds the packaging she features at flea markets.
Not much is known about Soviet designers but Natalia says among her favourites are the artists who worked on the Novye Tovary magazine (or New Goods magazine in English), U.I. Batov and A. S. Muntean; poster designers S.G. Sakharov and A.P. Andready, as well as the collective LeSeGri, formed of Boris Lebedev, Leonard Sergeev and Mark Grinberg.
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