My visit to House Industries

Josh Korwin at House Industries.
Photo: Ben Kiel

Last week, I was lucky enough to pay a visit to House Industries in Yorklyn, Delaware, my favoritest type design studio ever. On Friday, they held the first day of their “tag sale,” but I first stopped by a day early to scope everything out and meet the team. It was an absolute pleasure to talk with everybody there and to see how the company works. And before I left, I was stocked up on goodies; some were House Industries products and others were items they had laying around the office, presumably used as inspiration for past font releases.

Even better, I ended up on their “Show and Tell” blog!

You’re probably wondering to yourself, “what’s in the bag?” Well, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I can allow you to take a peek inside of that attractive (and eco-friendly) ampersand tote to see the gifts I bought myself inside.

[View with PicLens]

 

Tags: Delaware, East Coast, font, House Industries, typeface, typography

Vintage matchbook collection

At my fiancée’s grandparents’ house, I recently photographed a treasure trove of vintage matchbooks that her grandfather has collected over the years, mostly from gambling joints or local establishments in SoCal. He’s quit smoking since and these have just been sitting in a cupboard…until now.

[View with PicLens]

 

(I think the Space Needle might be my fave.)

Tags: lettering, matchbooks, packaging, paper, printing, typography

Hand lettered Italian wrapping paper

One of my favorite things is… well… brown paper packages tied up with string. Well, perhaps not so Sound-of-Music-literally. But I love getting interestingly-packaged items in the mail, especially from foreign countries. For example I wish I had taken pictures of the post-Soviet Belarussian packaging that my first fisheye lens, the Peleng, came in. (Luckily, others on the Internet have, but I swear the packaging mine was wrapped in was a lot more idiosyncratic.)

Anyway, the other day, my fiancée’s wedding shoes arrived from Italy, wrapped in this wonderful one-color patterned wax paper. “Calzoleria-Pelletteria Acessori POLUZZI, Bologna,” it proclaims, in beautiful hand-lettered and manually drawn style, touting Poluzzi’s “Vasto Assortimento” for ladies, men, and children. Clearly this design has probably been in use for decades upon decades. It’s dripping with mid-century, Old World charm… the kind of understated elegance that Italian fashion designers and shoe purveyors seem to naturally effervesce.

I love that they have this paper. I love that they still use this paper. I love that someone is still printing up this paper.

Perhaps I’m a bit overexcited. It’s just… for every single design relic of yesteryear, there have to be hundreds of needless rebrands. I applaud Poluzzi for keeping this artifact around. Even if only to inspire me from across the ocean.

Tags: fashion, italy, lettering, mid-century, packaging, paper, peleng, printing, retro, typography, vintage