Wary Meyers

Valentine's Day getaway idea!

2012-01-30T11:40:00.006-05:00

Buck Henry, Anita Morris, Beverly D'Angelo, and Gary Kasper foolin around at the Madonna Inn, from Julien Temple's "Rigoletto" segment of the movie Aria.

White Lines

2012-01-25T12:25:00.002-05:00

Beverly Hills. the awesome endpapers of Eliot Elisofon's The Hollywood Style, 1969.

We were going to use this as the basis for a huge room divider (2" deep roads, the red being cut away), but it turned out to be too difficult to sand the edges smooth enough for a lacquer finish.
It's still on the back burner....

Sunday Paper Carriers

2012-01-22T06:02:00.005-05:00

L.L. Bean Log Carriers, collected from yard sales for a knock-down,
portable campaign furniture pipe dream project.

Above: from Items from Our Catalog by Alfred Gingold, 1982.
Below, a 19th c. campaign chair.

Fab.com 3-day Wary Meyers print sale!

2012-01-18T12:11:00.004-05:00

Started at 11am. Everybody Hustle over there and buy a print!
http://fab.com/sale/ (main page)
http://fab.com/sale/2847/ (our sale)
Thanks!

Marvin Gaye, California 1976

2012-01-16T13:05:00.002-05:00

By Annie Leibovitz, from Rolling Stone, 1977.
One of my favorite photographs ever.

Creative Playthings Rocking Beauty Hobby Horse

2012-01-12T06:18:00.005-05:00

Vintage Creative Playthings "Rocking Beauty" Hobby Horse amongst the goods at an old-timey auction house out in Maine the other night. Designed by Gloria Caranica in 1964, it's in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum. And now in the permanent collection of our son's room. ...And in the permanent collection of the auction house is this amazing Wacky Races-looking Edwardian gent.

Bowie by Skrebneski, 1978

2012-01-08T10:47:00.001-05:00

From the book Skrebneski Portraits: A Matter of Record (1978)

previously: Bowie at the Beeb

Design Research Van, San Francisco, 1960's

2012-01-06T20:59:00.004-05:00

The Design Research Dodge A-100 van circa 1966-
a moving advertisement as it made daily deliveries around San Francisco.

From the awesome and highly recommended book Design Research: The Store That Brought Modern Living to American Homes, by Jane Thompson and Alexandra Lange, which deserves a much bigger blog post.

related post: Design Research's Bentwood Baby Chair, 1968

Happy Year of the Hobbit Dragon!!

2012-01-01T16:30:00.002-05:00

It's both!!

Conversation with Smaug, watercolour by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Shopsin's Plate

2011-12-29T21:10:00.003-05:00

From a Brooklyn Goodwill to our kitchen!

Shopsins.com, and

Shopsin's General Store in the NY Times

Misty Mountain Hop

2011-12-22T07:15:00.006-05:00

Beautiful and intense Images De L'Himalaya by legendary Italian photographer and mountaineer Vittorio Sella (1859-1943).

"Learn it all, and throw it out." Helen Frankenthaler

2011-12-20T06:38:00.001-05:00

"Easels were respectable, but destroy the easel. Sable brushes were wonderful but get a house brush."

Right on.

Paul Rand on Trademarks

2011-12-19T14:20:00.000-05:00

Frank Zachary and Alexey Brodovitch on Paul Rand, and Paul Rand on trademarks,

from Portfolio magazine #1, winter 1950.

'Paul Rand is a boyish-looking 35-year-old Brooklyn-born designer whose ability to create good-looking advertisements has earned him an international reputation, a horde of imitators, the vice-presidency of a large Manhattan advertising agency (William H. Weintraub & Co.) and a $100,000-a-year income. As a trademark designer, Rand is relatively little known, although he has produced some of the most effective and original business trademarks in use today. This insert (below) demonstrates his virtuosity in this field. It also reveals Rand's grasp of the technique of trademark design, which is to give concrete form to an abstract idea by means of a single graphic shape or symbol, without assistance from the written word. Says Rand:

"A trademark is the signature of a company as opposed to the signature of an individual. It should as closely as possible embody in the simplest forms the essential characteristics of the product or institution being advertised. It should be easy to identify, and it should serve to glorify the merchandise in question, which is often dull and utilitarian by nature. A trademark is a miniature poster, which should sell in a nutshell".
Rand's best trademarks bear out his theory in practice, deriving their appearance and visual impact from the form and function of the product involved, as in his Coronet Brandy waiter whose head is shaped like a brandy glass, and his Helbros Watch Company monogram H which ends in the tight flourish of a coiled watchspring.'

$100,000 in 1950 equals $900,000 today, so this should be very inspiring if you're a graphic designer under 35. Alas, not so much if you're older.

Alexey Brodovitch's PORTFOLIO magazines: if you can find them and afford them, they're well worth having.

The Umbrellas of Tuscany

2011-12-18T16:30:00.015-05:00

The classic green umbrella used by all the farmers in Tuscany. Made of heavy duty bright green canvas with a thick wooden shaft and red painted handle (carved from one piece of wood). I bought one when I lived there in 1988 and gave it to my parents, who have to walk a quarter mile every day to get their mail, which seems a very Tuscan-farmer thing to do.

Below: The only other one I've ever seen outside of Tuscany (even though it's actually in Tuscany): from a Sarah Moon fashion spread in Realities magazine, 1968.

Deyan Sudjic's London Spacecraft, 1985

2011-12-15T14:18:00.001-05:00

British journalist and author (then) and now Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic's awesome London loft, designed by Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick. It actually itself looks like a small Design Museum itself, or a spaceship that's been travelling around galaxies, curating. The only thing missing is a Braun KF 20 coffee maker. The bicycle and Norman Parkinson poster are from Earth.

from Suzanne Slesin and Stafford Cliff's amazing The International Book of Lofts (1986).
...and not actually designed by Kubrick and Scott, but by Jan Kaplicky in London and David Nixon in Los Angeles, two architects in the transatlantic firm Future Systems.
(sorry Greg)

Buon Appetito! We're in Food & Wine magazine this month

2011-12-13T12:47:00.007-05:00

Food & Wine magazine came over for a Christmas party we had with some fabulous friends, some vintage dinnerware, a crazy bronze elk tray, and vintage Italian recipes from Linda's Nonna and Mamma. You can read all about it and get the recipes fantastica in this month's (December) issue, out now.

a couple of behind-the-scenes pics:

Saul Steinberg's Views from New York

2011-12-11T10:15:00.021-05:00

Saul Steinberg's famous New Yorker cover from 1976, "A View of the World from 9th Avenue",

and above, "Olde New York", his rare view to the East.

David Hockney, Saul Steinberg, and Frank Stella

2011-12-09T08:25:00.001-05:00

from Renate Ponsold's book Eye To Eye

Shazam! Lightning Bolt Drawer Sachet- $25

2011-12-06T10:17:00.000-05:00

Linda made these lightning bolts from vintage tinsel metallic fabric, stuffed 100% with Maine balsam pine.

Guaranteed to smell like a forest of Christmas trees for years to come. Limited edition- we only have a couple yards of this fabric. Yet another perfect gift idea!

Available here: Lightning Bolt- $25

Lauren Hutton, Richard Avedon, and a super cool clear hair dryer- Jun Rope, 1973

2011-12-05T23:39:00.000-05:00

Vintage 1973 Nike Oregon Waffle Trainers

2011-12-03T13:31:00.003-05:00

Whoah!!!!

The first waffle-soled Nike sneakers ever. From the back of a closet.

Everybody Hustle prints, $25

2011-12-01T14:00:00.002-05:00

Our newest print is inspired by the company motto in a 1920's office.
We thought it was so appropriate for these times that we redesigned it a little to hang in our own office. (It should hang in everybody's office!)

24"x19", printed with archival ink on 100lb. Bristol board. Shipped rolled.

$25, available *here *

If kids designed their own dust jackets

2011-11-30T21:37:00.003-05:00

Related, whatever happened to grocery bag book covers?

A different version here.

New in the Shop

2011-11-28T11:54:00.008-05:00

Among 15 things we just added:

Rare 1960's Honeywell Tap-Lites,

J.B. Blunk-ish Redwood Burl Cheese Board ,

and a Koons-ian Ceramic Doggie

Please Don't Eat the Mistletoe!

The Wary Meyers Shop

Terence Conran at London's Design Museum

2011-11-27T06:00:00.004-05:00

Terence Conran talks about Habitat's beginnings, his philosophy, intelligent designing, the importance of supporting crafts, making things, and never giving up. Backed by his Retrospective at the Design Museum which I would have loved to see in person. Like a live Habitat Catalog.
Look at this awesome old Habitat launch poster:

And what is that great big graphic behing Stafford Cliff, in the upper right?:

And related, a spread about us from The Guardian UK earlier this year, talking about how we're more inspired by Conran's House Book and the 1970's than just about anything else.

El Feminine Producto

2011-11-26T06:46:00.006-05:00

Am I just seeing things?

It would be a nice box to keep it all in.

(pun intended)

today's motto:

2011-11-25T08:28:00.002-05:00

Pin from the 1980's New York restaurant Healthworks.

Thanksgiving dinner extra chairs idea

2011-11-23T08:07:00.001-05:00

The Plia Folding and Stacking Chair, by Giancarlo Piretti (1967).

Top: working off the pounds in The Head-to-Toe Exercise Book (1975)
And above, from Italy: The New Domestic Landscape (1972)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wary Meyers Soft Spills

2011-11-21T14:35:00.004-05:00

Soft Spills! Our newest creations, combining our love of soft sculpture, fake food, the 60's, the 70's, Monster Vitamins, Freakies, and our son, with a little hat tip to the stripes of Ettore Sottsass and the scale of Claes Oldenburg. We've been wanting to make something like this for a while, ever since the Golden Drip from our book, where the spill was used more as furnishing. But going forward, we thought this is more of what we really love- object design. And when you put a face on it, work becomes much more fun.

Click here!

Vintage Grocery Store Window Posters, pt.2

2011-11-18T12:18:00.001-05:00

Six of the vintage 1965 grocery store posters we had in our shop (the last three are here) beautifully framed and hanging in their new home in Australia. This is exactly how I pictured them looking, all in a group, framed in shadowboxes so their crimps and wrinkles weren't lost- like objects rather than graphics. They look awesome. (Excellent job Uri! Thanks again!)

Shop Update

2011-11-17T09:56:00.001-05:00

New additions to our shop include, from top:
An old Pouchinelle zig-zag style corkscrew; prints of a Story of O-style girl; a vintage velvet mushroom toadstool; a lot of Gunnar Cyren-designed plastic ware by Dansk; and a David Hockney Nichols Canyon Rd. exhibition poster, from his Retrospective at the Met, 1988.

The Wary Meyers Shop

Dropping soon......

2011-11-12T18:49:00.000-05:00

Wary Meyers City Posters

2011-11-11T07:11:00.026-05:00

The first four posters from a total of 12 cities which I drew earlier this year for a travel series. As alluded to in the last post, we're super excited about these, in particular all the logotypes. Typography is a big love of ours, and when we can incorporate it into a project we're all the happier. So here are the first four. Coming soon are SF, LA, DC, and Dallas.

The posters are 19" x 24", printed on 100lb. smooth Bristol paper, signed. $55 each, in our shop

The New York poster owes a lot to the work of Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast, with a little Tadanori Yokoo thrown in at the bottom. It started out as Massimo Vignelli Subway lines coming worm-like out of the apple, forming the frame, but later I changed the bottom lines to lox coming out of the bagel. But then we changed the line colors, since , although kind of funny, all-salmony didn't look that great as a border. And a lot of food worked its way in, mostly after drawing the bagel, then we had to represent the hot dog and pretzel, and all the eggplants and ugly tomatoes.

Miami's logotype is based on Ettore Sottsass' Superbox wardrobes. No relation to Miami, but it was the shortest city name and I the boxes would be nice and bold. Plus I've always wanted to make my own Superbox, modified into a monogram. The view is an artistic-licensed South Beach, with a couple Stilt houses in Biscayne Bay, the Bacardi buildings, a little Mondrian, and the ubiquitous rooftop cranes. The two curved graphics at the corners of MIAMI represent the sun, while the two at the bottom are tanned boobs, in a blue cutaway-bikini-top.

Seattle is overall a little more sci-fi/Moebius influenced. We wanted the logotype to be sort of rock n roll, and I was listening to a lot of Paul McCartney and Wings at the time (and still) which may have influenced the design. Coincidentally Wings' big US Rock Show kicked off at the Seattle SuperDome. On the right is a giant Peep looming behind two towering onions. Probably the most accurate rendering of anything in Seattle is the outline of Mt. Rainier in the background.

London is my favorite. I love the red telephone booth type, and yet another Beatles reference in the Yellow Submarine spreading its colour along the Thames.

1953 NCO DCM

2011-11-10T21:00:00.000-05:00

January 1953 Eames DCM (Dining Chair Metal), originally belonging to an NCO (Non Commissioned Officers) Mess Hall. It came into our hands with a 25 cents sticker on it, from a weekend yard sale- but- no one bought it, so it was left on the side of the road with some other stuff and a "free" sign. Our landlord spotted it on a Tuesday, and put it in his truck. After doing some work at our place I walked out with him and said "Woah!" then I traded a lamp for it, which, as Linda tells me, we had already given him a couple years earlier. Crazy!

I love Eames, and I also love old Army stuff, and typography, markings, etc... so the bottom of the chair is especially cool. I'm not sure what the Eames "0 #7" -stamped above "1 53"-means, or the Army (Navy?)"1 35". Or the masking tape on the rod in front of the "DCM" embossment. The biggest mystery though is why no one bought it for a quarter. Is it a Magic chair that had to make its way to us? The Force? That aside, imagine what that Mess Hall looked like!

Related- Fort Bragg NCO mess hall in 1954- cool, but not as cool without the Eames:

A Tour of Lloyd Kahn's Home and Philosophy

2011-11-09T23:18:00.000-05:00

This is so fantastic, thoughtful, funny, and inspiring.
Lloyd Kahn makes me want to be a better human.

And also makes me want to organize all my old Barbara Plumb-era American Home magazines.

h/t Old Faithful Shop's Twitter.

London Calling

2011-11-07T20:45:00.004-05:00

New things we've made are on their way, including four travel posters.
Here are their logotypes!

J.B. Blunk at Greens, San Francisco

2011-11-05T22:11:00.004-04:00

Sculptor J.B. Blunk's amazing redwood masterwork in the cafe area of Greens restaurant in San Francisco, 1979. Although it could be 2011, since thankfully it looks exactly the same today as it did when it was built and opened by the San Francisco Zen Center in the late 70's. Where else can pull up an Aalto stool and have a coffee on a J.B. Blunk? Nowhere!

See also: Checks Please! Milton Glaser's Big Kitchen
From the ever-inspiring book The Interiors Book of Shops & Restaurants, 1981.

Poul and Hanne Kjaerholm's House, Denmark

2011-11-03T23:36:00.003-04:00

Poul and Hanne Kjaerholm's home. Architect: Hanne.
from Living Architecture Magazine (Denmark) #2, 1984.
Love it.
If you click on a photo you'll be sent to our Flickr, where the original magazine scans are (a little bit back).

Wrecks in effect

2011-11-02T12:22:00.000-04:00

Vintage 1972 Sable Island shipwrecks chart/poster-

soon to be added to the shop.

Francine

2011-11-02T12:17:00.001-04:00

Vintage denim chore/ doin' time jacket. Looks like it belonged to the baddest dude in the yard, but actually has the name "Francine" written inside.

Related:
also from Maine, the old Thomaston prison to be exact, this 1940's Bilt Well denim work apron.

Trick

2011-10-30T12:26:00.002-04:00

Bentwood Baby Chair at Design Research, 1968

2011-10-26T13:59:00.002-04:00

with either a cane or elm seat, $18

From Esquire Magazine's Holiday Gift Guide, 1968. Time machine please.

Related:
Design Research: The Company That Brought Modern Living to American Homes.

Random things in the back hallway

2011-10-26T11:55:00.001-04:00

A bear rug from 1905, our version of an Italian radical lamp, and a giant letter P (upsidedown).

related:
an ambitious project from the book Wary Meyers' Tossed & Found :

Couldn't decide between Debbie Harry with Stephen Sprouse, and Debbie Harry on the Muppets- so here are both

2011-10-24T19:37:00.010-04:00

New Yorkers in Their Favorite T-Shirts, 1979

2011-10-21T14:11:00.004-04:00

By Their Fruits of the Loom Ye Shall Know Them. But if you don't, there's Andy, Debbie, Grace, Patti, The Smothers Brothers, Meat Loaf, Glenn Close (loving mutts even back then!), Legs McNeil, Suzy Chaffee, and a bunch of Broadway people, Punks, Penthouse Pets, and New York Rangers. All wearing their favorite t-shirts and shot by Jean-Paul Goude for Penthouse Magazine, July 1979. Gotta love Karla de Vito's classic "If it ain't Stiff...", but I think my favorite is Debbie Harry's Glaser-esque, Chwastian "Telluride Film Festival".

Published!

from a Salvation Army in Bay Ridge Brooklyn a few years ago.

"Hey you! you can't tape that You're under arrest 'cause it's illegal!"

2011-10-20T05:37:00.007-04:00

Innersleeve of Genesis' lp Foxtrot, 1972, Great Britain.

In Which We Take The Seven Mile Bridge to the Hundred Acre Wood

2011-10-18T21:51:00.006-04:00

Slim pickins at a yard sale in Marathon, but you can never go wrong with E.H. Shepard and A.A. Milne.- in this case the 1957 book The World of Pooh- The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner. With new illustrations in full color.
If you didn't know the back story of these furry friends, here's the back cover:

And here they all are- still sans Roo- in their home at the New York Public Library:
photo via nycscout's flickr

*and sorry Andy but the bumper sticker got stuck on my computer. Next time!

In and around the street with Richard Serra

2011-10-15T15:05:00.005-04:00

Top: Richard Serra's To Encircle Base Plate Hexagram, Right Angles Inverted (1970), in its original middle-of-the-street location in The Bronx, where it looked a million times cooler than its current location at the St. Louis Art Museum. And I know it probably has deeper meaning, but doesn't it look like an Oldenburgian King Kong-sized manhole? How wild would it be if it opened up and all the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Balloons emerged from it?

Above, the Serra Suburban, from somewhere on the Internet a few years ago.

Al Jaffee's Architectural Triumph

2011-10-14T06:30:00.002-04:00

From Mad magazine, January 1974. As with Al Jaffee's "If Kids Designed Their Own Xmas Toys", this is one of his genius spreads that I saw in my formative years and always think about when some new project comes along. It was reprinted in a Mad Special in 1980, but other than that I don't think it's anywhere, and it's too awesome not to share.

http://warymeyers.blogspot.com/2010/12/wary-meyers-plastic-crumpled-paper-ball.html

http://warymeyers.blogspot.com/2010/12/pen-ink.html

http://warymeyers.blogspot.com/2011/02/wary-meyers-installations.html

The Stevie Nicks of tables, and other things....

2011-10-12T07:31:00.003-04:00

Including, from top:

The Stevie Nicks of tables,

a 1970's David Gil Bennington fish dish,

a totally 80's Post Modern Fujimori Tea/Coffee set,

a totally Hollywood Regency pair of candle holders,

and a fantastic 1960's handmade tile lamp.

and much more!

*click here*

Cut and Paste

2011-10-08T15:19:00.001-04:00

New collages from the Wary Meyers studio. Made from mostly pre-1980 photo magazines, Playboys, Scientific American, American Home, Zoom, Mad, Abitare, ...with some I-D and The Face thrown in for good measure. And a nod to Superstudio in the one below.

Stunning 19"x21.5"" prints available in our shop for $55.

2011-10-06T21:14:00.000-04:00

In 1985 Steve Jobs hired Paul Rand to create the identity of his new company, NeXT.

Above is a page of final logos- black boxed and pitched 28º - from Rand's presentation package. The project is showcased- with thoughts, reasoning, diagrams, and ultimate choices- in his book Design, Form, and Chaos.

(available in our shop, as it happens.)

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

2011-10-05T20:26:00.002-04:00

Here's to the crazy ones.
RiP Steve Jobs,
thanks for everything.

Here come the judges

2011-10-02T20:14:00.000-04:00

Quite an impressive list of judges for this anti-war poster competition from a 1968 Avant Garde magazine. Could you imagine winning?
A couple issues later the winning posters were shown, but nothing was as impressive as Herb Lubalin's announcement. (above)

Celia Birtwell, by Celia Birtwell & Dominic Lutyens, and some Birtwell inspiration

2011-09-30T06:10:00.002-04:00

There's finally a book about Celia Birtwell and it's fantastic.

Birtwell, if you don't know, is a legendary British textile designer, ex-wife and better half of the late designer Ossie Clark, and muse to David Hockney, who's made endless drawings and paintings of her, most notably 1971's Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy, a portrait of her with Ossie.

The new book, written by Celia with author Dominic Lutyens, is just as research-and image-loaded as his previous book 70's Style & Design, and laid out the same way- every stunning spread being packed with beautiful visuals.
I became interested in Celia's designs a few years ago after Linda kept adding vintage Ossie Clark dresses to her ebay watch list. Thankfully none of these were actually won, as they're bank-breakers, but the photos stuffed an inspiration file, and led me to pilfer some of Celia's designs for a couple of projects I was working on at the time: the Eames chair and canoe both use her grid-with-dot motif- just in the trees behind the left pagoda and a couple squares, mind you; and then a full-blown Ossie Clark dress with Celia Birtwell Mystic Daisy print for a 2008 painting for our interior of Linhardt Designs Jewelry Shop. I really think all three of these look so cool, and I had a great time painting them in part because I knew I was going to add a little Birtwell touch.

Anyway, I really can't say enough about the book- I'm already partial to its two authors, but if you're at all interested in beautiful prints, design, the 70's, Hockney, Ossie Clark, ...even Jane Birkin, you should absolutely go buy the book.

Related: David Hockney's Vogue Paris 1985

And be sure to check out these videos on Celia's site:
http://www.celiabirtwell.com/heritage/sound-vision/

New Pieces

2011-09-26T19:00:00.005-04:00

In our shop! (click here)

And also we've marked down some things that have been hanging out too long...

A little Heinz Edelmann inspiration

2011-09-20T07:00:00.007-04:00

How awesome would it be paint an actual wardrobe like this one from Heinz Edelmann's masterstroke Yellow Submarine ? This is just a 5-second non-sequiter scene from near the beginning, but look how great this room is- white go-go boots, Hockney-esque rattan chair, Biba-esque Nouveau Deco everything else. But the dressing table and the wardrobe are the best. I'm on the lookout...

Related: Our half painted Lichtenstein dresser from our book,

and Jessica Lange, 1976:

...also a giant fur and purple leather King Kong hand would be a pretty awesome chair.

Elaine Katzer lidded bowl

2011-09-15T09:40:00.004-04:00

Always on the lookout for interesting, hippie, handmade, design-y pottery, this fit the bill on all counts.

It was only after picking it up we saw the name Katzer.

Above, Elaine Katzer on the kick wheel in 1962, from here, which looks like it's going to be an awesome show. And below, slightly more impressive than our bowl is her giant stoneware work "Sea Chanty" (1976), from the book California Design...
In fact, this may be my new favorite thing .

David Hockney in A Bigger Splash

2011-09-14T06:30:00.003-04:00

1973.
This trailer should have been an aria in the movie Aria. How great is Henry Geldzahler's appearance from behind the flowers?

Yellow

2011-09-12T23:00:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite rooms. Banana walls and an orange juice sofa. Every time I see this I feel like repainting our living room, and switching all our frames from chrome to gold.

Photographer Slim Aarons portrait of Cornelia Sharp, St. Tropez, 1972

Labor Day Weekend!

2011-09-05T20:29:00.001-04:00

on Long Island, Maine.

2011-09-03T14:31:00.003-04:00

Revenge is a dish best served with a glass of milk.

2011-09-02T07:15:00.007-04:00

The Xeroxed Mrs. Fields' cookie recipe made the rounds as a chain letter from a duped and vengeful woman in the late 1980's. Linda and I found this one filed away inside a cookbook we bought at a yard sale. I had no idea about this, but Linda said it was notoriously scandalous, and that her mom got one, all her friends' moms got one, everyone got one. Mrs Fields herself got one and then had to issue a disclaimer saying "that's not my recipe!" (but it totally is).

Proof being what's left of our batch (above) which made our kitchen smell unquestionably like the mall.

If you make them yourself change the 6 minutes to 11 minutes -actually that was probably Mrs. Fields' way out.

An adventure in reading without words

2011-08-31T11:15:00.006-04:00

...and 500 more photos.
From the 1975 Swiss book For Kids Only, by Jesper Hom and Sven Gronlykke.
(highly recommended by our kid)

Hurricane Lamps

2011-08-27T19:44:00.001-04:00

Camping Gaz Instalux. 1970's Battery-powered Italian camping lights:

One of the only things to look forward to when the power goes out.

Precious Metal

2011-08-22T19:30:00.010-04:00

"Fenzi is an Italian company specializing in aluminum windows and door frames. In 1965, when they asked us for a calendar design, we decided to use their scrap metal in all its beautiful anodizations, one sheet per month. It became a precious object."

- Massimo Vignelli

1965! :0

from the book Design: Vignelli (1990)

Striped cubism

2011-08-21T12:30:00.002-04:00

New old lamp!

Made of stacked anodized aluminum colored blocks.
Like the Superboxes of Ettore Sottsass and the sleeves of The Ritva Man.

related: here

Speaking of Jumpers...

2011-08-18T13:00:00.011-04:00

Clint Eastwood and friends wearing them well-
from Playboy, March 1972.

A Relic From a Different Age

2011-08-16T06:21:00.009-04:00

Our (my) newly acquired Wings sweater by The Ritva Man- one of only 5 black ones ordered by Paul McCartney from Mike Ross in 1975 for the Wings Over the World tour. Very 70's, very Ritva, and very glam rock- designed like a sports/concert t-shirt but made with flashy silver Lurex yarn, and a thick embroidered Wings logo designed by Hipgnosis.

More about The Ritva Man (our friend and recent visitor Mike Ross who's absolutely the coolest 70-something year old you could ever meet ) here. And if you're in London anytime, be sure to pop over to Surrey and check out The Lightbox's show Snap Crackle and Pop: British Pop Art meets the High Street in the Swinging Sixties. Writer Paul Gorman has a great preview of the opening night on his blog here.

...and just in from the encylcopediac mind and scanner-like eyes of Greg Allen is this awesomeness from the late Tony Curtis' closet: Three Ritva Man sweaters worn so much that the labels are unreadable, including a blue Wings, all three on the block at Julien's Auctions, Sept. 17th: No bidding against me...

Thanks Greg!

Wary Meyers x Alice Cooper x Alvar Aalto

2011-08-10T12:30:00.003-04:00

Aalto knock-off stools carved up with the desktop graffiti from Alice Cooper's 1972 album School's Out.

Basically this started out as an exercise in aging wood to a nice honeyed patina- making the originally brand new, very pale wood stools look like we've had them for years and years- but taken to a whimsical extreme. We sanded them down, nicked them up, cut slices off, carved in the markings, initials, and tattoo, stained them, tinted them, and polyurethaned them. All done by hand with no electric anything.

The stool is featured in our book Wary Meyers' Tossed & Found and now two are available in our shop. So if you're a fan of Alvar Aalto, Alice Cooper, and us, this is the stool for you!

related:
a typography spread from our book

School's Out lp

Alice photo via Mrs. Gorman

Adventure of the Three Colors

2011-08-07T23:30:00.002-04:00

The tops of Lord of The Rings, 1978 edition.

Brian Henderson's Aalto-filled Country House

2011-08-05T19:00:00.004-04:00

Back in May I posted the photo of the Alvar Aalto bookshelves in the little closet library, but it's the house as a whole (and the loads of Aalto) that's the really great thing. Especially so in the sun-room photo (top), with the Josef Albers posters, gangly green plants, Aalto furniture, Noguchi lamp, and British colonial/1970's-Habitat campaign furniture.
All from the Queen Anne country house of London-based Architect Brian Henderson (post-rake, above), and via the 1984 book English Style, by Suzanne Slesin (highly recommended).

Vegetarian Champion

2011-08-02T21:30:00.003-04:00

Vegetarion (I should've spelled it that way) t-shirt a la Artimus Pyle made from one of our old Champion stock. And related, below, Cesar Chavez is one of Richard Avedon's 72 political-world subjects in the October 21 1976 Rolling Stone. (If you're going to have any issue of Rolling Stone, this is it.) And if you're going to iron-on letters to a t-shirt, make sure you get the placement right before you iron, otherwise you may end up with a backwards n, like I did.

aalot of stools

2011-07-31T15:53:00.005-04:00

Towers of old Alvar Aalto stools at designdealers.fi

Coil Pots

2011-07-28T15:04:00.002-04:00

Working on some coil pots lately (above, in the drying stage)

We have a collection of these (below) but we only ever find a good one once in a blue moon, so we thought "why not just make our own and then we'll have all the pots we'll ever need."
And of course we don't need that many, so they'll be for sale too...
(coming soon)

Smithson: My father is whaaa??

2011-07-22T09:52:00.000-04:00

(too funny. click for credits)

The Dot and The Line

2011-07-19T08:00:00.002-04:00

Top: fromTerence Conran's The House Book (1974)
Above- A case of Polaroid film from a yard sale last weekend.

(¯`*•.¸(¯`*•.related .•*´¯)¸.•*´¯)!

Castles & Dragons

2011-07-17T12:51:00.005-04:00

The back cover of Castles and Dragons (1958), illustrated by William Pene du Bois

Magneto and Titanium Man

2011-07-15T02:45:00.002-04:00

Have a great weekend!

Happy Bastille Day!

2011-07-14T13:51:00.005-04:00

Celebrate with this tres French, tres chic vintage 80's poolside/ aerobics bodysuit from our friend Susan's Etsy shop.

Get Physical!

Conceivably, how it could look:

When The Pottery Barn was Lo-Tech with High-Tech

2011-07-12T19:45:00.002-04:00

1978 Pottery Barn insert from New York Magazine advertising all the things you can buy to style up your house with the High-Tech / Kids' Stuff design.
I wish I had a time machine.

Related: a little post on High-Tech
and
A big post on Kids' Stuff.

Muchas Gracias to David John from You Have Been Here Sometime for sending over the New York Magazine archive Google Books link! Check it out.

Real Life

2011-07-11T13:11:00.009-04:00

Albert Brooks with the Ettnauer 226XL from Real Life (1979), his prophetic foray into the world of reality filmmaking, and a hilarious send-up of PBS's An American Family (1971), which happens to now be showing in its anniversary edition (check your local listings!)

Thanks Kim for the heads up!

related: 1970's High-Concept headgear (I forget who made them, but I love them)

Saturday Morning, 1980

2011-07-09T08:00:00.003-04:00

Two of my favorite logos arrive in the mail. For some reason I never filled out the card or used the iron-on. Possibly because I was 13 years old and it may have been a little embarrassing. But times were different back then- Saturday mornings were for watching Superfriends and eating bowls of Freakies. So, I joined.

Yellow Hot Dog

2011-07-01T07:17:00.000-04:00

ノルウェイの森

2011-06-28T20:00:00.007-04:00

Norwegian chimney sweep.

Equal parts Japanese Kanji character and modernist bird, it's one of my favorite objects in our shop.
Also it could be a model for a great spiral staircase, or very cool parking garage.

de Kooning, 1964

2011-06-26T07:00:00.009-04:00

Willem de Kooning in his studio in Springs, NY, 1964

Ram On

2011-06-24T12:05:00.003-04:00

Actually it's a goat, hangin' out on the back of this Lopez Designs stoneware planter from 1975. This is perhaps the coolest piece of pottery I've seen in a while- so Southern California-70's. Look at that logotype!
One of the new additions to our shop.

Eames Kites

2011-06-21T10:00:00.007-04:00

Charles & Ray Eames' kite designs, a small part of an in-depth article on the Eameses,
from Alexey Brodovitch's Portfolio Magazine #2, Summer 1950.

(Happy first day of summer!)

1882 Camille Poirier Duluth Pack Sack A1 backpack

2011-06-16T09:38:00.007-04:00

The (supposed) Holy Grail! (of the backpack world.) French-Canadian Camille Poirier arrived in Duluth, Minnesota in 1870, set up a leather working shop, and soon after designed this Poirier Pack Sack. Featuring new-fangled strap designs, leather-based supports, and a "tumpline" strap, which goes around your forehead in order to lessen the weight on your back. Poirier patented his design in 1882, and riveted a little brass plaque on each pack. Basically, the Poirier Pack Sack is the great-great-grandpappy of all modern backpacks.
In 1911 Poirier sold his company to the Duluth Tent & Awning Co., after which the bags were called Duluth Packs.
Incredibly rare and desirable (?), some may know the Poirier from its infamous $45,000 Ebay auction.

This particular pack above is from an estate in New Hampshire. Slightly different (totally better) compared with the ebay pack, the tumpline seems to be more in keeping with the pack's design, and it's stamped Poirier Duluth Pack Sack, A1.

That 70's Shoe

2011-06-14T12:00:00.004-04:00

New! in the "things to wear" category of our shop.

Best punching bags ever, and best punching bags photo ever.

2011-06-13T20:23:00.022-04:00

By Patricia Ellisor Gaines, from her book
Soft: an Irresistible Collection of Pillows,toys Bags, Objects to Sit On, Ornaments for the Body, and Various Malleable Oddities...and How to Make Them (1977)

(and best book title ever)

Color blocks

2011-06-12T06:38:00.005-04:00

From the flea market. They could be old, could be new.

My guess is this was an old collaboration between Josef Albers and Donald Judd.
and Bill Ding.

Dad's Style

2011-06-09T09:59:00.001-04:00

The Wary Meyers Shop Father's day Gift Guide is up and it's fantastic man!

Thoughtfully stocked from one dad for another dad, there's a little of everything for all types:

Here's a sampling:

For the designer:

For the workwearer:

For the mariner:

For the architect:

For the writer:

For the jogger:

For the beachbum:

and much more...

Everything ships in time for Father's Day!
(Also we added a lot of other great things in all the categories!)

See it all here:

The Wary Meyers Shop

The Post Modern Memphis New Wave Avant-Garde... in Accessories!

2011-06-08T06:30:00.001-04:00

If Robert Venturi and Delia Deetz got together and made jewelry

it might look like these one-of-a-kind post modern masterpieces.

New in our shop, vintage old stock PoMo earrings, 2 bracelets, and a pin.

See them all here.

2011-06-02T21:15:00.007-04:00

" Hallam picked up the ashtray with a shudder and tipped the contents into the little bin where the tea-leaves went. He felt in many ways the type of cigarette that a man smoked typified him. So did the man's clothes, they were mass-produced, off-the-peg clothes. Hallam decided he did not like the man that Dawlish had sent to see him. He didn't like him at all. "

The Wary Meyers Shop Father's Day Special launches Monday!

The Well-Dressed Apache

2011-06-01T11:00:00.001-04:00

Chief James A. Garfield showing the white man how to wear his clothes, 1889.

From Penthouse magazine, 1973.

weekends off

2011-05-28T11:26:00.005-04:00

10 years ago today

2011-05-26T15:10:00.003-04:00

my friend Keith and I break down in the middle of the Mojave Desert on our way to Vegas.

(which was probably a good thing.)

recent fåvorites.

2011-05-24T14:10:00.005-04:00

Top: Hershey's Syrup clay pot with cactus. The woman said she bought it (without the cactus) 25 years ago from some Amish kids on the side of the road near Hersheypark. This is the kind of thing I wish I'd thought of.
Gunnar Cyren teak peppermill with Peugeot grinder, for Dansk. Usually you see just the Jens Quistgaard peppermills, so this was a rare find.
Giant canvas and leather bank bag from the old Porteous department Store here in Portland. It was bought out years ago by an unscrupulous new owner who heaved all the great old history into the dumpster. The woman we bought it from said she had to climb into the dumpster to retrieve years' worth of all their old hand-drawn advertisements, which are now in the historical society. Also she lugged out her old desk, which the Scrooge-like new owner made her pay $100 to keep.
Lastly, Richard Scarry's Engelsk Ordbok (Storybook Dictionary) in Swedish/English, making the decision of what second language to teach our son an easy one, albeit impractical and likely confusing. But you never know!

Aa - Z

2011-05-22T14:52:00.009-04:00

From Suzanne Slesin's 1984 book English Style.