24/08/10 – A second selection of matchbox labels produced by the Solo match factory in Lipnik, Czechoslovakia, on the occasion of the National Spartakiad held in 1960. The text, “Nacvicujte s nami,” translates as, “Train with us.” (more…)
26/05/10 – Series of matchbox labels advertising hotels, restaurants, bars and cafes in Prague, Czechoslovakia dating from 1968. (more…)
19/04/10 – Third installment of 1960s & 1970s Scandinavian design logos on Flickr//. The collection features the logos and trademarks of furniture, textile, glass, ceramic and general housewares manufacturers. (more…)
Teak ice bucket designed by Jens Quistgaard for Dansk Designs Denmark (1960). Base marked: Dansk Designs Denmark JHQ. Dimensions: 19.25″ x 9.25″
28/03/10 – Between 1965 and 1966, New York book publisher George Braziller published a six volume series under the title Vision + Value. (more…)
31/08/09 – Second installment of 1960s & 1970s Scandinavian design logos on flickr//. Includes logos from a variety of furniture and textile firms. (more…)
24/08/09 – First installment of a collection of Scandinavian design logos/logotypes circa 1960/70 on flickr//. Initial assortment strictly Danish furniture and textile firms. More to come from Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway. (more…)
12/08/09 – Falkland Lamp by Bruno Munari for Danese Milano (1964). Spontaneous form tube-like suspension lamp. More images//
13/07/09 – Tapio Wirkkala Ultima Thule glassware for Iittala, Finland (1968). Set of six juice/whisky sour glasses (18 cl.). (more…)
08/04/09 – Place d’Accueil – this is the main entrance to the Exhibition and the terminus of the mass transit. Buildings on the extensive deck are restaurants, boutiques and reception rooms.
All postcards marked: Official post card / Les Messageries de Press Benjamin Ltee / Benjamin News Co., Ltd., Montreal 3, Canada / Plastichrome of Canada / ©1963 [?] (more…)
01/04/09 – Excerpts from Bruno Munari’s Design as Art first published in 1966. Images on flickr//
Preface to the English Edition
They [artists] have realized that at the present time subjective values are losing their importance in favour of objective values that can be understood by a great number of people.And if the aim is to mass-produce objects for sale to a wide public at low price, then it becomes a problem of method and design. The artist has to regain the modesty he had when art was just a trade, and instead of despising the very public he is trying to interest he must discover its needs and make contact with it again. This is the reason why the traditional artist is being transformed into the designer, and as I myself have undergone this transformation in the course of my working career I can say that this book of mine is also a kind of diary in which I try to see the why and wherefore of this metamorphosis. (13)
(more…)
18/02/09 – Excerpts from Armin Hofmann’s Graphic Design Manual: Principles and Practice published in 1965.
Introduction
“What is lacking is a creative focus which would be the source of every new insight into the nature of art and would foster every kind of talent.” (37)
“It is only in in drawing, which occupies an isolated and underprivileged position in the curriculum, that thinking, inventing, representing, transposing and abstracting can be correlated.” (ibid.)
“It is a fairly general assumption that art training is autonomous and subject only to its own laws. It is precisely this error which has induced me to preface my consideration of the problems of art education with some thoughts on education in general with a view to showing the close interdependence of the various aims of education.” (ibid.) (more…)
29/01/09 – PIE books, Japan: Cesky Filumenisticky Design (2005) and Japanese Matchbox Label Collection 1920s-40s (2004). Text in Japanese. Maraid’s matchbox labels on flickr//
13/10/08 – Pot with teak handle from Henning Koppel’s Form 24 (aka. Koppel White) service (1962) for Bing & Grondahl. More images//
24/06/08 – Joe Colombo “Boby Trolley” designed for B-Line, Italy (1968) . Injection molded ABS in 3 shelf/3 drawer variation. Salvaged from Vancouver’s Downtown East Side (DTES) a little worse for wear but still functional. More information//
14/03/08 – Excerpts from Emil Ruder’s Typographie first published 1967:
Introduction
There are two essential aspects to the work of the typographer: he must take into account knowledge already acquired and keep his mind receptive to novelty. (5)
There must be no letting up in the determination to produce vital work reflecting the spirit of the times; doubt and perturbation are good antidotes against the tendency to follow the line of least resistance. (ibid.)
It is the intention of this book to bring home to the typographer that perhaps it is precisely the restrictions of the means at his disposal and the practical aims he has to fulfill that make the charm of his craft. (ibid.)
Typography has one plain duty before it and that is to convey information in writing. No argument or consideration can absolve typography from this duty. A printed work which cannot be read becomes a product without purpose. (6)
He [i.e., the typographer] is not free to make his own independent decisions; he must depend on what went beforehand and take into account what is to come. (8)
But the typographer does possess this ability to stand back from the work, and it is very useful to him in his craft since critical distance is a virtue in a typographer. The typographer must be able to take the impersonal view; wilful individuality and emotion have little place in this work. (ibid.)
The many active contacts between people from every country today leave no scope for type faces with a pronounced national character. (10)
The craft of the typographer, like any other, necessarily reflects the times. The age gives him the means with which to satisfy the needs the age creates. (12)
The creative worker, on the other hand, spares little thought for contemporary style, for he realizes that style is not somethign that can be deliberately created; it comes all unawares! (ibid.)
More than graphic design, typography is an expression of technology, precision and good order. (14) (more…)
13/11/07 – Design from Scandinavia was a design annual that showcased the best in Scandinavian furniture, textiles, handicrafts and applied art. It was the brainchild of publisher Kirsten Bjerregaard.
According to the website of the original publishing house, World Pictures:
Her ambition was to do a ‘design exhibition in the form of a book’, and her idea was realized in 1967 when Design from Denmark came out and was distributed worldwide in 50,000 copies.
The next year Design from Denmark became Design from Scandinavia and a voyage of communicating about quality design from the five Nordic countries had begun.
A companion series began publication in 1974 entitled Architecture from Scandinavia. I am unsure whether the series saw more than the two editions pictured in Design from Scandinavia 8 (p. 128).
The series, especially the early editions, have proven to be an invaluable resource for information on Scandinavian design’s floruit during the 60s and 70s. Today, these early issues have become collector’s items. (more…)