It is said that the oldest logo ever made for a brand, and still in use, belongs to the famous brewery Stella Artois. This brewery began its work in 1366 in Belgium, in the city of Louvain. However, Sebastian Artois bought the brewery from the founder Den Hoorn only later, in 1708, and then named it after himself. Since Hoorn means trumpet in German, it is assumed that the trumpet motif at the top of the logo was taken from there.
However, it is interesting that the word “Stella” (which means star in Latin) began to be used only later, when the company released its first seasonal beer called “Christmas Star” in 1926. We believe that the logo as we know it today has been in use since then, or perhaps even a bit later (around 1940). Based on our research and the versions of the logo that we were able to find, we tried to present our hypothesis about the development of the logo to its present appearance.
Another famous logo
However, there is another famous logo that is made for a drink, but non-alcoholic, and is very close in age to the Stella Artois brand, if not even older. It is the logo of a non-alcoholic herbal drink, more precisely tea – Twinings Tea!
Twinings Tea has been using the same logo for almost 232 years in an almost unchanged form! This logo is composed of capital letters with a lion crest on top. The name of this brand comes from the founder Thomas Twinings, who founded the company back in 1706. However, the Twinings Tea logo itself officially came into use a little later, around 1787.
Interestingly, tea did not always play such a dominant role in English life in the early 18th century. In the past, gin, coffee and beer were consumed for breakfast. It was not until the end of the 18th century that tea became such a popular drink that it became part of tradition.
Today, Twinings tea is sold in almost 100 countries around the world.
