Margaret E. Knight, Charles B. Stilwell

Industrial production greatly increased the speed at which raw materials were converted into consumer goods. This pursuit of efficiency even extended to the final stage of a product’s journey—its purchase by a consumer. Wright, for example, arranged Broadacre City’s layout of farms, factories, highways, and markets to enable goods to travel “from the maker to the consumer by the most direct route.” The design of the flat-bottomed paper bag offers a humbler contribution toward the streamlining of the purchasing process. Machine-made in standard sizes, the flat-bottomed bag, unlike earlier envelope-shaped versions, holds its shape while open, leaving both of a clerk’s hands free for the rapid packing of a customer’s products.

Many examples of good design have become so ubiquitous that we tend to gloss over the innovations they embody. Flat-bottomed grocery bags—humble objects incorporating design principles fundamental to the way we inhabit the modern world—are a case in point. The bag’s standardized, geometric form and economical use of materials are defining features of industrial production and distribution. The folded bag can be stored flat; when open, its groundbreaking flat bottom creates a sturdy, stable container. The use of paper, an organic and recyclable material, resonates strongly with contemporary environmental concerns.

An industrially produced object is the culmination of numerous small yet complex design decisions and can involve many different individuals as it progresses from concept to prototyping and then finally to manufacture and distribution on a mass scale. Details of this process are often difficult to unearth, particularly when the design is produced over a long period. For the flat-bottomed paper bag, however, legal documents lead us back to Knight, one of the first women to obtain a US patent, in 1871. Her patented machine produced flat-bottomed bags that were a great improvement on the earlier, structurally weaker envelope style. With only minor modifications, such bags remain in production today, making this one of the oldest and most enduring designs in the Museum’s collection.