One reply was from user pdschatz, who claimed to have been one of the original re-appropriators of the image on dump.fm the user claimed that he had emailed Solo Cup to find out more, and had learned that it was designed by a woman named Gina in 1991 in a design contest.ДЇrom there, a journalist named Thomas Gounley picked up the search for a newspaper called the Springfield News-Leader, in Springfield Missouri, the region in which the cups were manufactured. Where were you in your career when you came up with this design? Did it hurt or help it?' What does it feel like to have something you designed become a part of 90s culture that will be remembered for generations?ДҐ. Did you anticipate how ubiquitous this image would become?ДЈ. Did you get paid well for your work? Did you get royalties?Дў. On June 9th, 2015, reddit user mcglaven posted in /r/IAmA looking for the designer of the Solo Jazz pattern with five questions and claiming that Google searches had turned up nothing about their identity. Spread Reddit AMA Request and Springfield News-Leader Article In April of 2015, clothing company 1991Inc created a line of clothing featuring the pattern, which quickly sold out after being featured in notable blogs like those of the Laughing Squid and Pee Wee Herman. The earliest known mention of the cups on Reddit was an image post in the subreddit /r/nostalgia on November 14th, 2013, which received 86 points (93% upvoted). A Tumblr was created the same day, and posted continuously until October 2014. A dedicated Facebook page was created on February 6th, 2012 as of June 2015, the page had more than 4,000 fans.

These images spread across Tumblr and Reddit, often used in reference to nostalgia for the 1990s.

In 2012, users of the photo-sharing website dump.fm began re-appropriating the pattern and photoshopping it into different environments вЂ“ some users estimate that over 100,000 different images using the pattern were created. I just liked the purple with it and everybody seemed pleased with that.The Solo Jazz pattern was created in the art department of the Sweetheart Cup Company in the early 1991 and began production across a variety of waxed paper products in 1992. вЂњI wanted another overlapping color that would work well together. вЂњI just did turquoise, or teal, because thatвЂ™s one of my favorite colors,вЂќ said Ekiss. One of the parameters for the contest was that the design could only be one or two colors because they were going to be run at a fast speed on the presses. вЂњI think I probably just had some on hand at my desk and was just messing around and I liked what came out.вЂќ вЂњIвЂ™ve still got the original at home,вЂќ she said. The original artwork was actually drawn with charcoal, Ekiss explained. She created three or four designs for the contest and вЂњJazzвЂќ is the one the corporate headquarters ended up choosing. вЂњWe had approximately 30 artists here in Springfield and we said, вЂWhy canвЂ™t we submit some designs?вЂ™вЂќ вЂњThey hired several other outside firms to come up with the designs but didnвЂ™t like any of the outside stuff they were receiving,вЂќ she recalled.

In the first few years she was with the Sweetheart Cup Company, they held a contest to come up with a new design for the mass-produced cups. вЂњI did a lot of designs but this one particular seems to have some staying power and now itвЂ™s got its own life online.вЂќД®kiss worked at the Sweetheart Cup Company in Springfield, Missouri, from 1987 to 2002, before the company was bought by Solo and moved their art department to Baltimore. вЂњMy family and everybody just kind of grew up with the fact that I did it,вЂќ she explained of her masterful design. It took the serious sleuthing of one local Missouri reporter, Thomas Gounley of the Springfield News-Leader, to track Ekiss down after stumbling across a Reddit page hoping to locate the вЂњgraphic designer who made the вЂjazzy 90sвЂ™ image that appeared on millions of paper cups.вЂќ вЂњIвЂ™m just still pretty stunned about the whole deal,вЂќ Ekiss, 50, told ABC News of her shocking new celebrity status online. Meet Gina Ekiss, the original artist of the masterful design who now lives a quiet life with her family in Aurora, Missouri. The creative genius behind the snazzy neon-colored logo, however, remained a mystery for the most part - until now. The retro design, appropriately called вЂњJazz,вЂќ has been immortalized on tons of fun merchandise from T-shirts to sneakers, bicycle helmets and nail art, to name just a few. But 23 years after the cups were introduced, we can appreciate this gnarly nostalgic design for what it is: pure throwback perfection.

Jazz paper cup design