Stranda Pharmacy Museum

When I was working on the final details of my packaging design, my mother suggested I visit Stranda Pharmacy Museum. It is part of a small cultural heritage museum in the village of Mönsterås, and my mom has been involved with it from time to time.

I guess I need to explain who my mum is. She is a pharmacist and used to run the hospital pharmacy in Kalmar. When I grew up, Sweden had a monopoly on pharmacies and alcohol. If I am honest, I don't necessarily think that was a bad thing. Overconsumption of medicines and alcohol comes at a cost that society has to carry, so I can understand the idea of trying to limit consumption. And why should an external company profit from overconsumption? On top of it, Sweden is also a long country, with a densely populated south and large areas where relatively few people live. In a free market, there is a risk that not everyone will have access to the same quality of services, simply because some areas are less profitable to serve.

Anyway, when Sweden joined the EU, the pharmacy monopoly was eventually dismantled. My mom was involved in closing several pharmacies in southern Sweden. Rather than seeing all their contents disappear, she collected historical objects and found museums around the country that could take care of them.

This is what I grew up with. Old medicine bottles, jars and stickers. I suppose you can imagine that this influenced my interest in the visual language of pharmaceutical packaging.

If you, like me, are drawn to this aesthetic, and if you ever take a road trip along the east coast of Sweden, I can highly recommend contacting Stranda Hembygdsförening for a guided tour ( strandahem@telia.com)