Ace Jet 170

67

 

Has anyone else noticed how frequently the prime number 67 occurs as the resulting page count when searching Getty Images? Easily explained, no doubt, by someone with the appropriate technical wherewithall; I prefer to think of it as some kind of mysterious, ghost-in-the-machine-like force.

Found Type Friday #65

Found this at a car boot sale a couple of weeks ago and assumed it was just a bit of retro packaging. Closer examination suggests it must be at least 56 years old.

 

All contributions welcome, here.

Spookyism

What are the chances of that? On the very day I throw together that last post this opens. I really had no idea until John at Eye told me. Spooky. Sadly, I'm not in a position to go (we were thinking we'd go somewhere other than London this year) but if any one else is going, has a camera (and the gallery allow it of course) please Flickr it for us less fortunates.

Cut-and-Paste-ism #01

You probably won't be surprised to hear that I love collage (have probably mentioned it before). Even been known to dabble a little myself (this isn't mine by the way, even though it's a chicken). I was inspired largely by the 1997 MoMA exhibition of Hannah Höch's photomontages - that had quite an effect on me (actually 1997 was a defining year for a few reasons). Then there was the 1999 exhibition at the Whitney of work by Ray Johnson. That was ace too. And lately I've been thinking of selling a few things through Folksy (under a pseudonym - just for fun).

Then yesterday I remembered this great blog (which is where the chicken's from).

And, this bit about Martin O'Neill appeared on the Eye blog.

 

And finally, did you see Schtock? Which I really liked; a cunning ruse.

 

Cut-and-Paste-ism Update:

Ben, the man behind Schtock (and the Book Covers blog for that matter) has sent a few more links through:

• never always

• Not Paper

• CollageManía

Message Parlour

  

  

Simon Whybray recently found a copy of the classic, superb and much coveted McLuhan/Fiore printing error, The Medium is the Massage. Here's a taster; if you want more, get a copy for yourself.

Special thanks to Simon for sending me the images.

Pattern Master

  

Richard Rhys has set up the Pattern Foundry with a groovy website and patterns by, amongst others the excellent Karel Martens.

Map Making c1953

Flagrantly stolen from I Like. (Hope that's OK Anne).

Found Type Friday #64

A week or two back Ben holidayed in Yorkshire, where my Mum comes from and where we spent many summer holidays. (Damn him, he's made me feel home-sick for old Blighty!) Whilst there he visited the Museum of Rail Travel at Ingrow. If you're in the area, drop in.

 

 

Been anywhere type-y lately? Send photos here. If you've already sent, many thanks - your stuff is queued up.

Thanks for these Ben!

Mighty Moiré

Dazzling moiré pattern/architecture thing on the mighty City of Sound.

Sapporo 1972

As seen somewhere else, I just can't remember quite where.

 

One good term deserves another...

Font or Typeface? The all new FontFeed clears it up once and for all. Probably.

Found Type Friday #63

"They" have been turning our local Tesco Superstore into a Tesco Meglamarket; day after day it grows and grows. 

At one corner of it's furthermost reaches stand enormous concrete tubes, marked with mysterious...er...markings. What can they mean? Their sinister purpose can only be guessed at.

 

   

If it hasn't engulfed me and you've got something you'd like to contribute (while you still can) send it here...

For God's sake send it! While you still c...

The Centre for Cubic Constructions

This is very cool...

Bert Vanderveen left a great comment on the Dutch Child Welfare stamps post with some interesting background information. So I quizzed him on the designers responsible for them, Willem Graatsma and Jan Slothouber, and he very kindly translated some biographical notes he'd linked to:

Willem Graatsma worked as an exhibition designer for DSM (Dutch State Mines) where he met Jan Slothhouber. They collaborated at DSM between 1955 and 1970 on 3D and graphic presentations, always using a cube as a basic element, thus creating a recognizable corporate identity for DSM.

In 1965 Graatsma and Slothouber launched the Centrum voor Cubische Constructies (Centre for Cubic Constructions), where they expanded their exploration of 'simple and economic solutions with universal applications'. In 1970 CCC represented the Netherlands at the 35th Biënnale of Venice.

After 1970 Graatsma began teaching architecture and art and in 1983 became director of the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht, a position he fulfilled until 1990.

After Jan Slothouber left DSM he became a lecturer and later a professor at TH Eindhovan (Polytechnic). In 1983 he ended his 15 year tenure there.

Bert did some investigation and came up with this extra info:

Jan Slothouber (born 1918) died in Eindhoven, 29 November 2007. Won an IKEA Award in 1989 for his cubic constructions. Some of his works have been acquired by the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. It seems that the CCC Archives have ended up there too.

Willem Graatsma (born 1925), aka William PARS Graatsma, has written on art and architecture, especially about the Dutch monk and architect Doms Hans van der Laan (who has a very small but very influential œuvre). Graatsma must still be alive because I have not found an obituary...and he was a good friend of the late Pieter Brattinga, a seminal figure in Dutch design.

A couple of years ago there was a documentary about G&H on Dutch TV.

I did a little digging around too and found this.

 

Got to say a very special thank you to Bert.

Found Type Friday #62

Don't know about anyone else but I'm quite enjoying these one image FTFs. This one's from Loïc, with finds courtesy of his wife.

Contributions welcome here.

Tilt & Shift

An old colleague of mine got in touch recently. Mat's a fellow design. He's really good. 

Anyway, he showed me some of the stuff he's been doing and amongst it was a job that embraced the Tilt & Shift photographic technique. It's amazing.

If you're not familiar with it (you probably are, but I wasn't) it's the magical, in-camera technique of making big things seem small. Kind of the opposite to what Gerry Anderson did with his Supermarionation work (apparently, there's a Photoshop cheat technique but there's no substitute for the real thing).

Mat worked with Andy Pendlebury in Nottingham but not surprisingly, there's lots of it on Flickr, like the brilliant work of Guillaume Payen (shown here) and numerous Pools.

Mat pointed me at this really interesting thing from the New York Times and this from Metropolis, both of which fuelled his idea.

 

Khaleej Times

  

Luke Hayman and Paula Scher have redesigned the Persian Gulf's leading English language newspaper. See/read more on the Pentablog.

Spooky Wood

We also found some spooky wood...

 

Walking the walk

You probably read the CR Blog so have probably seen Tommy Penton's brilliant Tate to Tate but if you don't and haven't, here it is. Read all about it here and here.

Chicken Watch #18: Monster Chuck Fest

Day 103: It should have been just an average weekend...but everywhere we went, there they were too...