France is known for cycling, hosting the famous – and now infamous – Tour de France bike race each summer. In 1968 Peugeot jumped on board the notion of a Tour de France and promoted a trip by vélometeur (or moped) through various departments of the country. One section, pictured in this poster by American...
John Rombola (b. 1933 ), a Brooklyn-born artist, has always marched to the beat of his own whimsical rhythm. And fittingly so, when radio station WPaT, which also moved to its own rhythm, commissioned Rombola to provide illustrations for its 1963 advertising campaign “In the Air Everywhere,” to be displayed in subway cars across New...
In recent decades, New Zealand and Middle-Earth have become almost inseparable in the popular imagination as Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movie trilogies, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic novels, have put the isolated country on the world stage. But while the stories of Middle-Earth may be fantasy, the landscapes certainly...
A “Beau” is as a man greatly concerned with appearance. And like the word “Dandy” it is often applied to men who affect extreme elegance; who are unduly concerned with looking stylish and fashionable; and who place particular importance on leisurely pastimes. We know F. Scott Fitzgerald’s charming Jay Gatsby as a shining example of...
In his famous book, On The Road (1957), Jack Kerouac relays a cross-country adventure he undertook in 1949: “…. eyes bent on Frisco and the coast, we came into El Paso as it got dark, broke. We absolutely had to get some money for gas or we’d never make it. We tried everything. We buzzed the...
The song lyric, “I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way” (famously popularized by Whitney Houston in 1985) holds surprising resonance with this 1976 poster for The Young Pioneer Organization of the Soviet Union. The revolutionary Young Pioneer Organization, also known as the Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization,...
Open an interior decoration magazine, peruse a sartorial blog, or catch-up with the latest fashion on television, and you’ll know mixing prints has been the trend for the last few seasons. Endorsed as a risky and intimidating choice, it is often accompanied by a number of rules and guidelines. English-born industrial designer George J. Sowden...
In 2011, Italian designer Michele de Lucchi (b. 1951) reflected in an interview, “design is truly a kind of witness to history. Design documents the spirit of the age.” [1] His 1981 drawing of Two Designs for Tables (and Three Designs for Tables) is an example of how design records its historical and cultural context, and...
Search ‘Alfons Bach’ online and you will find a slew of images featuring modern, tubular steel furniture designed in the 1930s. This is what industrial designer Alfons Bach is most well known for. However, in America in the 1930s and 1940s, the coffee table was an object that progressive designers and manufacturers often used to...
Sometimes it’s the seemingly insignificant that holds the most meaning. This is not only true of this drawing by industrial designer Constantin Boym; it is also true of Boym’s design philosophy as he takes notice of that which commonly goes unnoticed. Front and center in this drawing is a design for a gray upholstered sofa...
For craftsman and industrial designer Russel Wright (1904-1976), flatware was not just a tool for the tabletop. It was a tool for easier living. From the late 1920s through to the 1960s, Wright introduced Americans to modern, practical, and easy-to-care-for homewares and furnishings suited to a more informal and sociable way of life. “Highlight/Pinch” flatware,...
When 20-year old Bernice Smith Tongate walked into a California Navy recruiting office in 1917, and proclaimed “Gee, I wish I were a man, I’d join the Navy!,” I’m sure she was blissfully unaware of the impact she was about to have on the American Navy and women’s equality. Illustrator and artist Howard Chandler Christy...
For many of us residing in New York City, we quickly become accustomed to living in small apartments. Yet, through design, decoration, and furnishings we do our best to make our sometimes-cramped quarters as practical, comfortable, and aesthetically pleasing as possible. In the 1930s, American-born designer Donald Deskey, inspired and influenced by European design of...
