A house you can shake

Norman Bel Geddes: Manhattan Cocktail Set, 1937

In the 1930s, the US city of New York was one of the most modern cities in the world. Many skyscrapers were built, especially in the district of Manhattan. One of them was the Empire State Building, which has more than twice the height of the Cologne cathedral.

The skyscrapers were masterpieces of modern architecture! They were so modern that other things were also designed as mini skyscrapers, for example a cocktail set for cocktail parties, which were becoming fashionable at the time: the tall shaker, used to mix juices or lemonades, syrups or fizzy water with alcoholic drinks, rises tall like a skyscraper above the goblets that were ‘built’ around it like smaller houses. The set is placed on a tray whose tiered edge is reminiscent of an urban square.