Vintage Italian graphic designs

From laura@popdesign’s Flickr set:

See and Say & The Ward-o-Matic

ow did I not know about The Ward-o-Matic until now?!? I just discovered JunkCulture, too (see their button in my right column). Whenever a mind-blowing discovery such as these two occur, I feel shaken (not stirred) to the core and kind of like, “How did my life exist prior to knowing this?!” That’s exactly how I feel about stumbling upon illustrator (and retro-connoisseur) Ward Jenkins’ blog and website. AND he’s the husband of HulaSeventy?!? WTF?!? How am I so out of the loop?!? What the hell have I been doing with myself?!?

Anyway, thanks to The Ward-o-Matic, I found these little gems: images of Antonio Frasconi‘s illustrations from the children’s book See and Say: A Picture Book in Four Languages (1955). You’re welcome.

More illustrations and a lovely feature on Antonio Frasconi and See and Say (his first book!) on The Ward-o-Matic HERE.

(ps: Obsessed like me? Follow the Ward-ster on Twitter HERE)

Throwback Thursday: Notgeld, German Emergency Currency

If all money looked this pretty, I’d definitely be more apt to save it.

The images presented below represent a selection from Lliazd’s unbelievably expansive Flickr set of Notgeld, which was German emergency currency used during the post-WWI years. Lliazd’s provides us with an in-depth look into the personal, political, and aesthetic significance of these images on his Flickr page:

After 800 years of life in the same region, my wife’s family left Germany. In 1935 Nazism had become unbearable. They were lucky enough to understand the risk it posed for Jews living in Germany and they left. Until then, her family was part of a comfortable and prosperous middle class, involved in the tobacco business in the city of Karlsruhe.

At the end of the First World War her grandfather started collecting Notgeld produced by many German and Austrian towns and companies to make front to deflation first and inflation later with the objective of providing stability to workers and residents. Notgeld (emergency currency) was issued by cities, boroughs, even private companies while there was a shortage of official coins and bills. Nobody would pay in coins while their nominal value was less than the value of the metal. And when inflation went on, the state was just unable to print bills fast enough. Some companies couldn’t pay their workers because the Reichsbank just couldn’t provide enough bills. So they started to print their own money – they even asked the Reichsbank beforehand. As long as the Notgeld was accepted, no real harm was done and it just was a certificate of debt. Often it was even a more stable currency than real money, as sometimes the denomination was a certain amount of gold, dollars, corn, meat, etc.

They made it very pretty on purpose: many people collected the bills, and the debt would never have to be paid. It was printed on all kinds of materials: leather, fabric, porcelain, silk, tin foil. (Read more HERE)

Behold, the beauty of Notgeld:

Wordshop Wednesday: 26 Olive Street!

Welcome to the vintage brilliance of 26 Olive Street. Their old-school offerings and fabulously composed polaroid-style photos make me giddy (to an annoying degree, I’m sure). I bet they’ll have the same effect on you.

Here’s why:

(all images borrowed from their Etsy shop)

For more great images, check out 26 Olive Street’s Flickr page and their blog. Oh, and you can get all their updates by following them on Twitter HERE.

Blues and yellows…

Blue and gold were my high school colors.

These blues and golds, featured over at Decor8 today, are much prettier. They’re even awesomer when mixed with tape and type.

Custom Moss Letters & Numbers

Check out these custom moss letters and numbers from SimpleSweetDesign’s Etsy shop!! (It sounds weird, I know, but seriously… just look… )

Thanks to the always-inspiring We Love Typography site for clueing me in to the mossy marvels!

Number and Letter Scarves From Little Factory

I have become absolutely infatuated with these scarves at LittleFactory.com, and I think you will too:

Number scarf:

Lowercase scarf:

Uppercase scarf:

Sample fabric of all three scarf options, in white (number, lowercase, uppercase):

 

Wordshop Wednesday! (3.0)

This week, I am pretty much obsessing over Uppercase Gallery’s “Eclectonotes,” which includes an insane collection of ephemera, vintage, and repurposed pieces. What’s more (as if “Eclectonotes” are not mind-altering in themselves), Uppercase’s online shop contains some of their priceless “Old School”-themed items, vintage reproduction posters, various design books, paper goods, desk accessories — the list of awesomeness goes on and on and on and…

(All the images below are taken from Uppercase’s online shop)

OLD SCHOOL:

SAMPLE ECLECTONOTES:

OTHER UPPERCASE GOODIES:

If you have not been sufficiently won over, then I just don’t know what else to do for you.