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"[It's] iconic, the very essence of modernism, a perfect meld of function and form," says design historian Bill Stern of the Museum of California Design. "There's not a whit of unnecessary decoration...It's made inexpensively but responsibly, so it won't prematurely break or wear out. Viewed at a distance, it is an extremely elegant object."

He's talking about the Dripcut-Starline sugar shaker you see above, a staple of every American roadside diner and citybeaten greasy spoon since 1955. Countless farmers and family men, truck drivers and tourists, cops and criminals--everyone who drinks coffee--has wrapped their mitts around this thing at some point.

It was designed by Henry Keck, who opened his Cali ID firm in 1951, and received the commission to design a better sugar shaker. More went into this design than you think; read the full story here.

"It's been copied all over the place, and it's still being sold through restaurant supply houses. I see it in restaurants every time I travel," Keck says. "The irony is that so many people have been stealing them that some places have reverted to the older, less desirable style in an attempt to stop the loss."

via la times