Delicious Industries

Wish you were here...

2008-07-18T18:55:00.002+01:00

According to figures released by the Royal Mail yesterday, the humble postcard is making a comeback after a 10 year decrease in popularity. Mobile phones and texting are thought to have caused the decline, as it's easier to send a text than buy, write and post a card, but it seems holiday makers are once again sending 'Wish you were here' messages back home in the traditional way.

I always send home postcards from my hols and find great enjoyment in picking out the tackiest, most inappropriate and sometimes the dullest ones possible, even if it only gives the postman a chuckle. Here are a couple of my favourites.

From the reference box #15

2008-07-18T00:17:00.004+01:00

Picked up this little beauty yesterday, a single Oxo cube box - I have only ever seen the Oxo tins before, but this little box is great.

So then, #15 - Oxo Cube packaging

Blisters on my Fingers posters, now on-line!

2008-07-16T16:49:00.003+01:00

As promised the very nice people over at Print Club have just put all the remaining posters from the weekends exhibition, 'Blisters on my Fingers' into their on-line shop for £35 each plus postage. There are some really nice ones left too including the ones above by Andy Smith, Seif Alhasani and Steve Wilson.

Pictures of Walls

2008-07-15T18:39:00.005+01:00

Check out Pictures of Walls, a site devoted to photos of stuff written on walls - some are just genius!

Via our good friends at Sell! Sell!

From the reference box #14

2008-07-12T13:30:00.004+01:00

Lots of photography based ephemera from the 30s', 40's & 50's. The second red 'Kodak' one had images in it marked 1938 on the back, but I would say the first 2 are much older than that one. The last one is a really tiny, holiday souvenir photo card form 'Margate' - this is my personal favourite.

So quite a few items for #14 - Photograph/enlargement wallets and cards.

Print Club presents 'Blisters on my Fingers'

2008-07-11T15:39:00.003+01:00

35 Illustrators. 35 Edition and hand signed prints. 35 Pounds each.

Blisters on my fingers runs from the 11th to 13th July 2008
at MC Motors, Millers Avenue off Arcola Street, Dalston, E8 2DS.

Friday night opening 6 to 10pm (Please RSVP)
Saturday 12 to 5pm - Afternoon Print off
Sunday 12 to 5pm - Closing show BBQ

Print Club is a water-based, screen printing club providing it's members with the facilities to produce their own screen prints. They have some amazing illustrators and designers as members including one of our favourite illustrators, Andy Smith (remember the 'I Pretend to Work poster'?) so it really should be a cracking show. Fingers crossed there will be some prints left to go in their shop for those of us that can't go!

Via Dirty Mouse.

Save Polaroid!

2008-07-10T09:50:00.003+01:00

With Polaroid film production coming to an end sometime in 2008/2009 Save Polaroid is spearheading a worldwide campaign to help save it. The website is full of the joys of Polaroid; history, news, stories and lots of pics, plus a downloadable 'action pack' on how to help the cause.

Polaroid is a great media, I love the slightly hazy, 70's looking colours - what I like to call 'the Polaroid effect' - now what other camera can do that? OK, I know that Fuji do a similar camera, but the pictures are a different shape and it's just not the same!

If this has inspired you to dig out some of your old polaroids, why not send one to Postcard Polaroid.

Via Its Nice That.

I pretend to work

2008-07-09T15:11:00.004+01:00

I saw this today whilst trawling blogs, instead of working and it made me smile! See more of Andy Smith's work here and buy prints here.

Image via A Smith Illustration.

Surf Photographer, Jeff Divine

2008-07-08T15:12:00.006+01:00

Whilst we are on the theme of surf photographers, it would be remiss of me not too also post about the amazing work of Jeff Divine. Divine's images are mainly in colour and have a dynamic, fresh feel. His '70's Era' images are like a colour continuation of the Leroy Grannis black and white, 60's collection, capturing the whole of surf culture - the fashions, the hairstyles, the boards and always the very cool cars.

Jeff Divine grew up in La Jolla and began taking pictures of fellow surfers in the 60's. In 1971 he joined Surfer magazine and in 1981 became their Photo Editor for the next 16 years!

Divine's prints are available to buy through M+B in LA, but from the 21 July - 31 August his work will be exhibited/on sale at Crane and Kalman in Brighton, and I for one cannot wait!

Images via Jeff Divine Surf.

From the reference box #13

2008-07-07T13:56:00.004+01:00

Another little bit of ephemera fresh from the reference box are these 'Sorry we missed you' cards from a 1950/60's Dry Cleaners in Leamington Spa. I love the 'vanman' character on the pink one - he really is sad that they're not in!

# 13 - Dry cleaning, calling cards. 1950/60.

Surf Photographer, Leroy Grannis

2008-07-05T12:14:00.006+01:00

It's been a while since I last looked at the work of surfer and surf photographer, Leroy Grannis and it's never disappointing, especially 'The Legends: Classic 60's black and white photo collection'. They have that lovely grainy, vintage look and even in mono they radiate that warm, hazy days of summer feeling. As does the '60's legend board builders' collection which gives a great insight into the business end of 60's surf culture.

Grannis began surfing in 1931 and started photographing surfers and surf culture in the early 60's and has some great collections through the 60's and 70's in black and white and colour.

Limited edition photographic prints are available to buy here. Be warned though, they are not cheap and you will fall in love with them and just have to have one.

Images via Photosgrannis.

Illustrators, Gary Taxali & Roman Klonek

2008-07-03T11:57:00.003+01:00

Just saw this post on the Sell Sell blog about illustrator Gary Taxali. I love his work, it's fantastic - full of quirky characters and bright colours, and as Sell Sell say, it does have a look of vintage advertising/propaganda posters. Some of his signed, limited edition screenprints are available to buy here.

And if this quirky, nostalgic illustration is your thing then check out the work of Polish, illustrator Roman Klonek, whose woodcuts are similarly reminiscent of Eastern European propaganda posters, and also filled with wild and crazy looking characters in bright colours. The full collection of woodcuts can be seen on his website (which is a pretty cool site), and if you want to see them in the flesh, there is normally a selection on display/for sale at Castor & Pollux in Brighton.

70 AMAZING BUSINESS CARDS

2008-07-02T11:31:00.003+01:00

Fubiz have put together a selection of '70 Amazing business cards' they find inspirational. Well, I'm not sure I would describe them all as amazing from a design point-of-view, but there are some really nice pieces of print so it's worth a little look.

Pics from Fubiz.

Any Jesus £4

2008-07-01T15:51:00.003+01:00

"Any Jesus £4 each" is not something you see everyday so I thought it worthy of a post. Thanks to Darren at Site for sending us this gem of a pic. As seen in Snoopers Paradise, Brighton.

Olympic logo Retrospective

2008-07-01T14:12:00.006+01:00

After seeing the Olympic poster retrospective last week, I thought it would be interesting to see all the Olympic logos chronologically. I started a search and immediately found that Hitesh Mehta had beaten me to it and also included some Winter Olympic logos along with some of the candidate countries 'bid' logos. I was really only interested in seeing the Summer Olympic logos, so here they are:

The 60's and 70's ones really define the design of the time and for me, the Moskow 1980 was the last great Olympic logo, as subsequent years started to look very similar and all have the feel of an 80's tourist board logo, that is until the London 2012 logo. This has definitely broken the mold of recent games branding, although it does still have the 80's feel (maybe that's just the fluro pink & yellow), which I have nothing against, but how will it work when the Olympic rings are in their correct colours; blue, black, red, yellow and green?

Images and research gathered by Hitesh Mehta.

Found Typography #2

2008-06-30T23:17:00.003+01:00

A few pics of distressed type; a mini cab office in Kings Cross London, Litter bin in Chester Zoo, 'Station' sign in Brighton and a TV/Radio rental & repair hand-painted mural on the side of a building in Brighton. All seen better days, but all the more interesting because of it.

Fifty Designers' Current Favourite Typefaces

2008-06-27T16:03:00.007+01:00

'Fifty Designers' Current Favourite Typefaces' is exactly that, compiled into a neat little book by James West of Create/Reject to raise money for UNICEF's Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone Children's Appeal in the wake of Cyclone Nargis that hit Myanmar on 2nd May 2008.

Contributors include some of the design world's elite; Farrow, Stefan Sagmeister, The Chase, North, Pentagram and The Designers Republic.

You can buy it from Koenig Books in Charing Cross Road, Artwords Bookshop in Shoreditch or here. Cover price is £3, all of which goes to the charity, so for a bit of good Karma, why not sacrifice your latte & muffin on Monday morning and buy this book instead.

Via Reform & Revolution.

From the reference box #12

2008-06-26T12:30:00.006+01:00

Another new item in the reference box (actually it's on the shelf, but it's still reference) is 'A Book of Lettering' published by A&C Black Ltd. in 1929. It's only 18 pages, but it has some great typefaces that were all hand drawn by Albert Field. Each typeface has with it a description and it's ideal usage, ie. for posters, embroidery, appliqúe, everyday use, woodwork, leather work, carving or printing.

The best thing about this book though, is that it had a couple of hidden extras folded away inside; a hand drawn map of the world showing exports and British colonies and a tea cosy design/pattern - how random!

#12 - A Book of Lettering, 1929.

Charles & Ray Eames Commemorative Stamps

2008-06-25T11:55:00.004+01:00

A commemorative sheet of 16 stamps honoring Charles and Ray Eames has been issued in Santa Monica, California. Designed by Derry Noyes, they represent the many iconic pieces of design created by the husband and wife team throughout their careers.

The stamp sheets are available to buy from The Postal Store at $6.72 plus postage.

Via Cool Hunting.

Seven Songs for Spring

2008-06-23T09:36:00.004+01:00

Thanks to Make Do Style for tagging us again. 'Seven Songs for Spring', now this was difficult - I'm still on a Foo Fighters high after their amazing Wembley gig, so it would have been easy to pick out 7 great Foo's songs, but I have been ruthless and only allowed one song per artist.

So, here they are, in no particular order, the Delicious Seven Songs for Spring:

1. My Hero - Foo Fighters (The version on the Skin and Bones Album is best IMHO)

2. Fuck me Pumps - Amy Winehouse (Loving early Winehouse at the mo)

3. Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley

4. One Way or Another - Blondie (Great for a sing-a-long anytime of year)

5. The Man Who Sold the World - Nirvana (Bowie cover from Nirvana: MTV Unplugged)

6. Subterranean Homesick Blues - Bob Dylan

7. I Want You So Hard (Boys Bad News) - Eagles of Death Metal

and for anyone who hasn't heard the Nirvana version of 'The Man Who Sold the World', here it is courtesy of you tube (for some reason you can't embed any versions with the original MTV footage!) Enjoy...

Now, we are going to tag, Sell Sell, Rubbishcorp, Dirty Mouse, Grain Edit, Things to look at, Acejet 170 and Form Fifty Five

A Delicous day out - part 2

2008-06-23T00:18:00.007+01:00

So... after a lovely lunch I made my way over to the Design Museum to take in the 'Richard Rogers + Architects' and 'Tim Walker' exhibitions (as well as some of the delicious cake).

Richard Rogers is the influential architect behind the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Lloyds Building and the Millennium Dome, both in London. His work is dynamic, experimental and always pushing the boundaries. The scale models are fantastic. I love the miniature cars and people - there is always one doing something weird, I guarantee it!

It was the Tim Walker exhibition though, that stole the afternoon, it was wonderful. Tim Walker is a renowned fashion photographer whose images regularly grace the pages of Vogue.

His images are fascinating. They are conceptual and imaginative, some are dreamy and elegant while others are beautiful, but chaotic. My favourites are the pastel animals, in particular the cats. The exhibition also displayed some of the over-sized props from the photoshoots, as well as some of Walker's sketchbooks, showing his thought processes, ideas, references and inspirations which give a real insight into his work.

A Delicious day out - part 1

2008-06-21T14:21:00.003+01:00

Every now and again I like to take a day off to take in some culture, so yesterday I visited the Museum of Childhood to see the 'Century of the Olympic Poster' exhibition (see my original post about this exhibition here). The posters are fantastic, the exhibition takes you chronologically through the collection, from 1851, to the London bid posters and then finally to the London 2012 logo. Most can be dated by the design alone, in particular the David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein ones for the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics, as they are sooo 80's.

For me, the best by far is the Mexico'68 Olympic logo and poster. It is one of my all-time favourite pieces of design and it was great to see it in the flesh and especially to see the fluro pink and green version which I had never seen before.

What I found really interesting is the mixture of poster designs for each Games, some Games had 2 or 3 totally different styled posters, as though a different person had designed each one with no consideration of the others, whereas the best years had a very obvious style, even though different artist and designers had been invited to create them.

I hope that the organisers of London 2012 have seen this exhibition and understand that getting a branding company or a big name ad agency is not necessarily the best way to create a successful and memorable Games marketing campaign. Instead inviting people like, Damien Hirst, Banksy, Martin Parr or Bridget Riley - world renowned artists, designers and photographers to create a truly British campaign would create enormous media interest and create a campaign, modern and true to the diversity & creativity of the UK. Because at the moment the 2012 logo would look right at home on the 1984 LA Games posters and does not inspire anything vaguely British or modern.

From the reference box #11

2008-06-18T17:54:00.003+01:00

New to the reference box is this collection of matchbook covers. A great carboot find at the weekend and a snip at £3! After discovering Grain Edit's Flickr group last week I decided to keep a look-out for some of my own, but never expected to find so many and so soon.

They are fantastic and from all over the world, someone has obviously spent a lot of time on this collection and I intend to keep it growing.

So, a new addition, #11 - Collection of Matchbook Covers

Graphic Design Materials & Equipment

2008-06-17T22:58:00.003+01:00

On the design nostalgia theme, our friends at Site have lent us some 80's design books to reminisce over (thanks Darren!). Above is 'Graphic Design Materials & Equipment' by Jonathan Stephenson, 1987 - a particularly 80's looking book packed full of essential design tools, or what where the essential design tools back then. These days most of the equipment listed is no longer needed; the crazily fine Rotring pens, the Magic Markers and the Letraset are rarely used in a modern design studio.

It's interesting to see how, back then, some companies which now dominate the design world had more competition, for example, colour systems could be Mecanorma or Pantone, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Apple Macintosh where all used in design studios (although Apple had already begun to dominate) and the main desk-top publishing software was Pagemaker by Aldus (a programme I have a soft-spot for as it was the first computer programme I used on a Mac) with no sign of Adobe anywhere.

I was introduced to an Apple Mac for the first time in the final year of an ND Graphics course, and it was love at first sight - I have never looked back. Yes I sometimes miss the paste-ups, tracing type from Letraset books and buying hundreds of Magic Markers, but would I swop my shiny Apple computer for the chance to do it the old way again - like hell I would!

The World's First Graphic Design Musuem

2008-06-17T16:27:00.005+01:00

A Graphic Design Museum, said to be the first in the world, opened in Beyerd Breda, in the Netherlands last week. The museum, which will focus solely on Graphic Design, offers established designers an International stage and is, at the same time, a spring-board for new top talent.

The opening 4 exhibits; one aimed at children, one aimed at young adults, one aimed at design professionals and a retrospective, 100 years of Dutch Graphic Design are designed to appeal to the general public and design professionals alike.

Via Design Week.