Craig Dunn sent us some additional nostalgia… clearing one archive and happily filling up another.

‘Limited budget, miracle worker’ poster was printed by Rawson Graphics for a paper called Threads by Dalton Paper. This single poster was part of series developed by Daltons, that explored a range of controversual topics. The miracle worker concept was released post the September 11 attack, and was devised by Sydney based creative outfit – By Radio, that has since closed shop.

Have paper promotions since reached such risky heights? Where are the logos? Loving the scale. What has the whole baby line got to do with paper?

With all the chatter of Blackberry, I-phones and the like, whatever happened to the Iron Age mobile phone? This example was uncovered from an undisclosed site just near Railway Balaclava Station. Sarah from our office says she really missed her Iron Age phone – “The look matched my wardrobe at the time and it was also very effective in staving off stray Celts”

Read more about the Iron Age here.

Emotion recollected into tranquility – Wordsworth

This time last year we left our Greville Street space in Prahran and moved into a new space off Carlisle Street in Balaclava. The new studio is in a run down 1960s building and our space was once an drafting services office amongst other things.

Near our front door is an assemblage of numbers and letters executed in a style perfected by New Zealand born Artist Rosalie Gascoigne. A visitor one asked – is the work a Gascoigne? Our response was – No, would you like it?

Gascoigne’s work is a favourite of many graphic designers, because she manages to pull off with letter forms and composition what most designer would only dream of as graphic executions. Subsequently her style of art is often mimicked in graphic design works. It is a style of work that is very easy to sell to clients for it artful qualities and from time to time it pops up on report covers, graphic textures, even the odd CD cover.

Born in 1917, Gascoigne started her work in art at the age of 58, after she had brought up her family. She worked on the outskirts of Canberra up to her early 80s, until her successful career was cut short when she died October 23, 1999.

Gascoigne’s cut and dry manner was always a welcome alternative to often hyped up world of art. Her way with words has a delightful economy without pretention; she was never one for complicating her process; she is a woman that loves to make art, rather than a woman who thinks she is art.

As a homage to the great artist we would like to share with you an interview with Gascoigne.

The advent of shopping destinations and households having ready access to cars has seen the decline of local shopping precincts. Derby Road, Caulfield East is one of the many roads in Melbourne that have seen busier days. There are signs that this deserted shopping strip was once a vibrant place. Many shop fronts are now empty, and buildings that once were banks and hardware stores are now occupied by services — accountants, lawyers and architects — that typically use office space rather than street frontage to display products, produce and wares. One of the surviving stores in this precinct is the newsagent with a fine sample of signwriting on its northern wall. The type with its leaf like flourishes, smells of Art Nouveau styling which possibly dates the work around early 1900s. Yet the seven digit telephone number does bring into question whether this piece has enjoyed a little loving restoration. If there is a type nerd lurking out there that can fill in the gaps, a comment or two is beckoning.

For the design students at studying at Monash it is a five minute walk away. See location here

Having grown up in Sydney, there is the Sydney that brochures want you to know and there is the Sydney one misses. The harbour, the bridge, the Opera House seem to transfix and when one mentions to friends from Melbourne visiting Sydney to — hire a car, or catch a bus to Palm Beach or Pittwater, — pardon — typically follows a glazed over expression that says — nice idea that seems too far away.

Pictured is too far away (an hour and 1/2 from the city centre), a weekend at Currawong and a view of Pittwater from friend and photographer Karl Schwerdtfeger. While one was chasing children at Daydreamers play centre in Windsor, Melbourne, Karl finishes a homemade fruit salad for breakfast with a stroll. While one took his children to a part of Sydney that is more like paradise, the other shuffles around a ratty play centre with average expensive coffee.