Soap carton ("nautik – Die blaue Seife"), repurposed as a hair-ribbon box
Entry/Object ID
2025.6.2
Description
Rectangular printed paperboard soap carton in turquoise and blue tones with a stylized red/orange starburst graphic. The top face carries the brand "nautik" and the tagline "DIE BLAUE SEIFE," repeated on the long side panel. A small paper label reading "CINTAS" has been glued onto the top face to mark the box's reuse for storing hair ribbons (cintas de pelo).
Use
Used by Mirta Martínez to store her daughter's hair ribbons.
Collection
The Martínez Suquet family collection
Acquisition
Accession
2025.6
Source or Donor
Mirta Suquet
Acquisition Method
Gift
Made/Created
Manufacturer
Konsum Seifenwerk Riesa
Time Period
1980s
Place
City
Riesa
* Untyped Place
G.D.R.
Region
Central Europe
Continent
Europe
Edition
Nautik
Notes
Maker: Original packaging by Konsum Seifenwerk Riesa (Riesa soap works), German Democratic Republic. The repurposing/labeling was done by a Cuban user.
Date: The nautik soap is a GDR product that collector sources place in the 1970s–1980s, within 1959–1990. The carton itself bears no printed date; the Cuban repurposing is presumably contemporaneous or somewhat later.
Place of Origin: Manufactured in Riesa, German Democratic Republic (East Germany); repurposed and used in Cuba.
Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
Inscription
Transcription
nautik
die blau seife
Language
German
Translation
nautic
the blue soap
Type
Note
Location
Box top
Transcription
Cintas
Language
Spanish
Translation
Ribbons
Material/Technique
Label
Notes
Printed (original): "nautik"; "DIE BLAUE SEIFE" (German — "the blue soap"), with the brand repeated on the side panel.
Added paper label: "CINTAS" (Spanish — ribbons/tapes), a user's annotation marking the repurposed contents.
No country/maker line is legible on the faces visible in the image; the GDR origin is established via the brand.
Dimensions
Height
2 cm
Width
9.5 cm
Length
26 cm
Materials
Material
Cardboard
Material Notes
Materials: Lithographed paperboard (carton); applied paper label.
Technique: Printed/lithographed paperboard carton; separately applied paper label (hand-lettered or typed).
Original product: nautik "Die blaue Seife" was a GDR toilet soap (100g bar) from the Konsum Seifenwerk Riesa, retailing at 0.95 Mark (95 Pfennig); examples are held in collections including the DDR Museum, Berlin.
Notes
Repurposing / significance: an imported East German soap box reused in Cuba to store hair ribbons — a compact illustration of both socialist-bloc (COMECON) imports reaching Cuban households and the Cuban practice of conserving and repurposing scarce packaging. The added "CINTAS" label documents this second life and is arguably the object's most significant feature for the collection.
