Herman Miller Brochures 1960

Here are four Herman Miller trifold brochures from 1960 featuring furniture and textiles by Ray and Charles Eames, George Nelson and Alexander Girard. I’ve had these in the ephemera archive for some time now. I’ve posted a snippet of them but I photographed the insides to show them as flat layouts. These were designed at George Nelson’s office and the designers involved were Irving Harper, Don Ervin, Tony Zamora and Dick Schiffer. Not sure which one is assigned to each of them but they work perfectly as a set and I just love the vibrancy of them. Again digital photos will never to this justice as they are way more vibrant in person and the use of overlays is hard to see digitally but here’s an attempt to document this in the blog. Enjoy!

Dewit Push Button Moistener

Here’s a fantastic piece of packaging that has inspired me in things that are coming but that’s another story. I instantly gravitated towards the dots which in this case I can not see how this can conceptually relate to the product other than what the action of pushing a button looks like (but that a far stretch). What I love is that back then, packaging was more fun because there weren’t that many established rules, standards and factors to packaging as there are now (unfortunately). But this makes such a boring product look fun and I’m sure it stood out on shelf.

This product was made in Norway for The Eversharp Pen Comapany, a subsidiary of The Parker Pen Company. Printed in USA 1966. I wonder if the packaging was designed in Norway.

Seeing Honolulu by Donn Allison

I wasn’t lying when I said there was a lot of Hawaiiana coming. This one is by Donn Allison, one of Hawaii’s most notorious illustrator/designers of that era. I have a few of his pieces as well as some that are not signed but it could be easily him. Like this one. He has a very distinct almost geometric style and a very good sense of color simplification/abstraction. As usual these brochures were printed in pantone colors and it’s so satisfying to see specially since you rarely see pantones being used on something as simple as this.

Jim Flora Storyboards

Here’s something I have been hoarding in the archives forever. I believe I shared a snippet when I found them many years ago but this is a set of five storyboards for the animated short film The fabulous Firework Family, a film made after the successful book of the same title that launched Jim Flora’s second career as a children’s book author and illustrator. Following the success of the book, Terrytoons acquired the book and made a film produced by Gene Deitch.

As for the authenticity of the Storyboards, I consulted with the Irwin Chusid, author of many books on flora and editor of the site jimflora.com. Conclusion was that based on the quality, style of painting, use of pencil, etc. it is 99.9% made by Flora’s own hand. Though it is 0.1% possible that some talented artist at Terrytoons could have made them. It is also documented that Flora did provide storyboards to Terrytoons. In any case, enjoy these paintings and watch the film. Adios!

El Pescado

This is a fantastic brochure from a series on nutrition informational from the Comisaría General De Abastecimientos y Transportes (Government Produce and Transport Association) produced in Spain during the 70’s. They are in Spanish and they were illustrated by F. Martínez Chaves . The illustrations are just phenomenal. It’s a mix between hard shapes and rough lines. Remember, this is pre-procreate or vector. I have a few of these and they are filled with illustrations that are just too much to feature in one post. Circa 1973. More to come. Enjoy.

Hawaii Travel Brochures

Ok, I hope you are ready for some Hawaiiana because I’ve collected quite a few things. This is a set of travel brochures highlighting a few Hawaii islands including, Kauai, Oahu, Maui and possibly more but these are the only ones I found. They are offset printed in spot colors and just filled with wonderful illustrations. The artist is not listed and there are no signatures but it could possibly be Donn Allison, a prominent Hawaiian artist as the style is quite similar. No dates that I can find but it’s very 1950’s. They were put out by the Hawaii Visitors Bureau. Enjoy.