Oliver Tomas | Text Proportion Utility » Architecture

Czech stamp series designed by J. Lukavsky (1971-2)

Oliver Tomas — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:33:21 +0000

19/07/10 – Series of 13 postage stamps from Czechoslovakia designed by Jaroslav Lukavsky featuring traditional Czech and Slovak folk motifs and architecture.

Aldo Rossi’s La conica e altre caffettiere (1984)

Oliver Tomas — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:56:27 +0000

12/07/10 – Illustration by Aldo Rossi from the exhibition ‘La conica’ e altre caffettiere held September 8-11, 1984 in Milan.

A note about the show:

This exhibition illustrates the genesis of the “La conica” cofee-maker, named so after the conical shape of its lid.

It is an espresso coffee-maker developed for Alessi after research started in 1980 on the theme of coffee and tea, the rites and their instruments for preparation and service. Pots, pitchers, the New Orleans coffee-maker, espresso coffee-makers, percolators: notes, sketches, drawings, good photographs and “private” Polaroid shots on a subject so dear to the author that it has become a sort of obsession, a constant presence in many of his architectural drawings which eventually has transformed itself into a real object, to be touched and used.

Chicago architectural photographs, a selection

Oliver Tomas — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:47:19 +0000

07/06/10 – A selection of architectural photographs from a recent, and unfortunately very brief, visit to Chicago.

More images//

Postcards from the Chicago World’s Fair (1933)

Oliver Tomas — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:54:40 +0000

27/04/10 – A small selection of ‘linen-finish’ postcards from the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933. All cards printed by Curt Teich & Co., Inc., Chicago, and marked ‘Art-Colortone’.

Vision + value series edited by Gyorgy Kepes (1965-6)

Oliver Tomas — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:12:27 +0000

28/03/10 – Between 1965 and 1966, New York book publisher George Braziller published a six volume series under the title Vision + Value.

The aim of the series, “…to stimulate the circulation of ideas, to find channels of communication that interconnect various disciplines and offer us a sense of structure in our 20th century world…,” encouraged interdisciplinary cooperation and sought to bring together the day’s foremost artists, scientists and scholars.

Each volume centred on a broad basic theme with the series itself speaking to the fundamental role of vision for human insight and expression.

The series included essays by such eminent contributors as: Rudolf Arnheim, Saul Bass, Max Bill, Marcel Breuer, John Cage, R. Buckminster Fuller, Karl Gerstner, Johannes Itten, Marshall McLuhan, Paul Rand, and many others; and was edited by renowned artist, designer and M.I.T. professor, Gyorgy Kepes.

Volumes in the series:
1. Education of Vision (1965)
2. Structure in Art and in Science (1965)
3. The Nature and Art of Motion (1965)
4. Module Proportion Symmetry Rhythm (1966)
5. The Man-Made Object (1966)
6. Sign Image Symbol (1966)

Resources and more information:
Images on Flickr//
Gyorgy Kepes on Wikipedia//
George Braziller, Inc.//