For decades, many people lumped Tupperware into the same category as meatloaf and tuna casseroles - functional, sensible and not a whole lot of style. Your mother loved it; you found it bo-r-i-n-g! Look again. With their pure geometric shapes and spirited contemporary colors, Tupperware products are now valued for their aesthetic qualities and appreciated even by people who rarely step foot into a kitchen.

In 1946, Tupperware founder Earl Tupper couldn't have guessed his kitchen creations would someday be included in the design collections of some of the world's most important museums. The New England inventor stumbled into the housewares business after demand for his plastic gas mask parts plummeted at the end of World War II. Casting about for a post-war consumer use for his invention, Tupper realized that the airtight seal formed by his flexible plastic would work as well for food storage containers as it did for gas masks. He was right. Tupperware quickly won praise for functional innovation and exceptional quality. Aesthetic appeal, however, was rarely mentioned.

Today Tupperware is being lauded by design critics and homemakers alike. In the '90s, its staid utilitarian image has been replaced by a reputation for elegant Eurostyle simplicity. Adhering to Bauhaus principles, Tupperware products emphasize pure form through clean lines, soft curves and bold color accents. Design decisions that used to occur through rote practice have found new inspiration: Color palettes, for instance, may be influenced by shades in the latest round of fashion shows in Milan and/or in next season's automotive offerings from Japan and Detroit. Surfaces are alternately crystal clear, bright white or projecting super-saturated color. Those very hues are often filtered through the use of translucent plastics.

"When I came here, Tupperware products had durability and functionality, but they didn't have style," says Morison Cousins, internationally acclaimed as an industrial designer before he joined Tupperware as Vice President of Design in 1990. "I believe style is just as important as those other concerns. Our customers seem to agree. You can't believe how appreciative people have been about the design innovations we've introduced."

Creating museum-quality design priced for the masses is largely the reason Cousins says he left his successful design consultancy in New York City to take the in-house job in Orlando, Florida. "Tupperware offered me something very appealing: the opportunity to try to give the average person products with the best possible design," says Cousins, who in 1984 was only the second industrial designer to win the coveted Rome Prize. "I like the idea that hundreds of thousands of people around the world like the things we make."

Cousins has given even that suburban badge of middle-class domesticity the Tupperware party a glamorous flourish. In line with the company's more sophisticated look, Cousins throws Tupperware parties in places like Miami's trendy South Beach and in gallery locales like the Denver Art Museum. To keep up with the changing lifestyle demands of working women, this year Tupperware is planning to market its products through infomercials, kiosks in shopping malls and on the Internet.

Still, Tupperware estimates that a product party is thrown, on average, every two seconds somewhere in the more than 100 countries where its products are sold. Tupperware parties became a necessity early on after the company's first products languished on store shelves. Realizing that consumers were unfamiliar with plastic and didn't understand the advantages of the airtight "burp" seal, several Tupperware sales people began demonstrating the product at gatherings in people's homes. Sales took off, and so did Tupperware's direct sales system, which now includes more than 900,000 independent sellers worldwide.

In addition to creating a congenial atmosphere where customers can learn about current products, Tupperware parties act as ongoing focus groups giving the company a direct link to consumer likes, dislikes and desires.

Awareness of changing customer tastes and needs has encouraged Tupperware to expand its offering from plastic storage and serving containers to new products like cutlery and kitchen tools. Currently, over 20% of the company's sales come from products introduced within the past two years. "The Tupperware party concept is a critical part of the way we work," Cousins emphasizes. "Our sales force provides a wonderful customer feedback mechanism for us as designers."

Tupperware's design operations is divided between the company's Florida headquarters and Aalst, Belgium, the site of its first manufacturing plant outside the U.S. The in-house design staff works closely with Tupperware product managers, marketers and home economists as well as regional design consultants. The Belgian designers headed by Bob Daenen, Vice President of Product Development for Europe, Africa and the Middle East operate independently from their U.S. colleagues. But several times a year, everyone meets at Tupperware's Worldwide Product Development Council to share information, research and ideas.

In 1998 more than 85% of the company's $1.1 billion in sales came from outside the U.S. The vast numbers of working women in America have taken their toll on Tupperware's domestic growth over the past 15 years. But at the same time, working homemakers have presented opportunities for innovative product development. Tupperware's new CrystalWave™ line, for instance, makes it easy to prepare meals that go from the refrigerator to the microwave to the tabletop in the same container. A liquid-tight seal keeps leftovers fresh and its steam-release vent prevents spattering during reheating.

While the U.S. is a laboratory for lifestyle and technology change, other parts of the world challenge Tupperware designers to create products versatile enough to suit cross-cultural needs. Manufacturing efficiencies dictate that the pan-European group creates single product lines that can be sold in multiple countries. So the challenge lies in coming up with the kind of container design that is versatile enough to marinate herring in Sweden, store strudel in Austria or hold fusilli in Italy. Daenen's group recently concluded major research into picnic and outdoor eating habits, for example. Among their findings: UK consumers are more formal in their preferences; the French more improvisational; the Germans not so fond of eating outside. How do you please everyone?

"We try to understand Europe as one place," says Daenen, "but we take into consideration the different lifestyles, attitudes, traditions, and food habits of individual countries. To make that easier, we focus on three languages and cultures related to Anglo-Saxon, Latin and Germanic countries. We may design a range of eight products. Germany can take the six that suit them best; France another combination of six; Britain a different combination of six. We personalize the product lines in other ways as well. In France, for instance, a home economist wrote a microwave cookbook with very French recipes."

On a selective basis, Tupperware also customizes products for specific markets. In Japan, for instance, foods often feature runny sauces and are served pre-cut so they can be eaten with chopsticks. In response, Tupperware makes high-sectioned "bento" lunch boxes that include sized-to-fit chopsticks. The kimchee keeper is sold only in Korea to hold the garlicky, cabbage staple. Latin Americans like larger serving dishes. Europeans prefer bigger butter plates. Germans love to bake, Spaniards don't. Japanese and German consumers willingly pay extra for crystal clear plastics; Latin Americans settle for less expensive, thus foggier, materials.

The majority of the products have worldwide appeal. Designed in Belgium, the company's new Impressions line in frosted colors like Island Green, Ocean Blue, Sunset Orange and Pineapple Yellow is a lively part of the company's strategy to target the younger generation. "Aesthetics are much more important to the modern consumer," explains Daenen. "We responded to that by giving Impressions a lyrical wave design, vibrant colors and a whimsical style. Less obvious, but still very present, are the many functional benefits that have made Tupperware a powerful brand." The Impressions Classic Bowls were recognized by Germany's Design Center-Essen with the "High Design Quality" award, and the tumblers in the line received its "Best of the Best" award.

Color has become an important strategic marketing tool and a proven sales motivator at Tupperware. "When we group products by color at parties, people feel they should move certain products out of their collection and upgrade their Tupperware product lines," says Cousins. "We know when we introduce a new color, there will be a surge in sales." Colors are rotated out of availability according to their popularity in order to assure loyalists that additions to their collections will still be in stock.

Color also acts as an inducement to potential hosts, who are offered gifts in new hues unavailable to other customers. That choice of palette keeps changing. Two years ago, Cousins said a lot of translucent shades like aqua, reddish-orange and green were popular. A year ago, light colors came into fashion. Recently, Cousins was in Italy where he was drawn to grays and metallic colors. A source of inspiration for him was the pearlescent strap he observed on a Prada bag in Milan.

Although the sensual colors and the pure geometric shapes that Cousins has brought to Tupperware are often credited for the company's design transformation, Cousins says he is as excited about the integration of functionality and aesthetics as his mission to add styling to products.

"A lot of the products we develop now have to do with convenience, changing technology and changing lifestyles not just storage needs," he observes. "Ten, 15 years ago, if you wanted a very fine garlic press or a great ice cream scoop, you'd have to go to a gourmet store. But the average person wants good, affordable products of a gourmet quality and that's what Tupperware gives them now."

Cousins goes on to add, "You don't have to justify or explain good design. People understand it instinctively. Everyone responds to things that are lovely. There's no reason for premium pricing for good design. At Tupperware, the intrinsic cost of the product determines what we charge customers. There's no reason to charge extra for good design."