A teenager named Kenji Ekuan had witnessed the aftermath of the atomic bomb falling on his hometown hiroshima

and was mourning the loss of his sister and father.

After seeing the devastation, Ekuan's path changed.

He first enrolled as a Buddhist monk following in the footsteps of his father.

But instead he decided to become a "creator of things" and bring happiness to people.

As a young designer, Ekuan got a contract to design a table top soy sauce bottle for food company Kikkoman.

Soy sauce is a must for Japanese meals, but it was originally sold in big bottles that were hard to hold.

It took Ekuan three years and about a hundred prototypes to complete the design in 1961.

The result is a small glass bottle with a narrow neck -- a shape reminiscent of traditional Japanese sake flasks.

It allows you to see how much sauce is left.

It's stable on surfaces and comfortable to hold.

The inward angle of the tip of the spout is also perfect at preventing drips and controlling flow.

The design of the little soy sauce bottle was just the start of Ekuan's great journey.

He also went on to create other icons of Japanese design.

In Japan Ekuan has become almost as recognisable as his bottle

and fifty years later still appeared in commercials for the soy sauce.

Today the bottle can be found on the tables of homes and restaurants in more than a hundred countries.

And in 2015 the bottle was even exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Simple but elegant, this is the design made to create a small moment of happiness,

without you even knowing it.