P&G made a saddle-shaped chip to solve broken bags — it became a design icon

In 1956, Procter & Gamble assigned chemist Fredric J. Baur to solve a persistent problem: potato chips arrived at stores broken, greasy, and stale. Bags were filled with more air than chips. Consumer complaints were mounting. P&G wanted a chip that could survive shipping, stay fresh, and fit in a container without wasting space.

Baur spent two years developing a saddle-shaped chip — a hyperbolic paraboloid, in mathematical terms. The shape was designed for one purpose: to allow the chips to stack uniformly in a tubular can, minimizing breakage and maximizing freshness. He also designed the can itself. But Baur could not solve the taste problem. His chips were palatable enough. He was reassigned.

In the mid-1960s, another P&G researcher, Alexander Liepa, restarted Baur's work and succeeded in improving the flavour. His name is on the patent for the potato chip product. Mechanical engineer Gene Wolfe — who later became an acclaimed science fiction author — helped develop the cooking machine. In 1968, Pringles launched in Indiana under the name 'Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips.'

The saddle shape became Pringles' most distinctive feature. It was a functional solution to a logistics problem — but it was so distinctive that it became the brand's identity. After Baur died in 2008, his children honoured his wish to be buried in a Pringles can. A shape designed by a chemist to solve broken bags had become one of the most recognisable food designs in the world.