This watering can from former East Germany is a 1960s cult item. It was available in several different color combinations and its shape is reminiscent of a boat. Every household that wanted to be considered up-to-date owned such a watering can and kept it prominently visible on a windowsill. In the GDR, plastic was propagated as a symbol of modern times and of socialism’s success. Plastic goods were not cheap throwaway articles but were used for a long time and were considered to be the counterpart of the West’s capitalist consumerism. This political message was also due to the fact that in East Germany materials for mass production were scarce. The emphasis was therefore on synthetically made materials and the country became the market leader in the manufacture of plastic products. To this day, brand names such as Sonja Plaste bring back memories of a past age – after the Fall of the Wall such items were referred to as an example of Ostalgia (a word play from Ost meaning East and nostalgia).