Blog: April 2013

AT Open House 2013 Line-up


It's almost that time again, in less than a week AT Open house will fling open it's doors for the first Artists Open house weekend.

We'll be there with a selection of letterpress prints, cards, notebooks, totes, vintage circus prints and some new linocuts, as will AT regulars Dead Methods, Snorkus, Alice Pattullo, Petting Zoo, Mr Wingate, Hello Dodo, James Sawyer, Nathan James, Natalie Martin and Winsome & Saucy.

In addition this year, we have a new artist joining the AT gang - fabulous illustrator Claire Scully aka. The Quiet Revolution.

Claire describes her work as, "a mix of strange utopian worlds and parallel universes with juxtapositions of the unexpected, playing with scale and narrative".

I had a sneaky peek at the Giclee prints she's selling at AT open house and believe me, they look good on screen but when you see them up close and full scale, the detail in astounding.





AT open house will be open 11-6 every weekend throughout May. So be sure to pop down and say hello, there's always a fresh pot of tea/coffee on the go and lots and lots of cake!

Fret not, if you can't make it over, you can keep up-to-date on the AT blog and once the show starts all the work will be available in their online shop.

Images copyright Claire Scully.

Auto Type XXVXI











Auto type XXVXI - a very US heavy selection of auto type from a show last summer with a very rare French example thrown in for good measure! I do love the quirky French 'Aronde' lettering, but the 'V8' is one of my all time favourites -  I never tire of looking at it.

If you need a break this afternoon, make a cuppa grab a biscuit and check out our full Auto Type collection here or here.

Thu 25 Apr 2013

Posted under: Typography , automobilia , lettering

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Happy Birthday Norman Parkinson

Today would have been legendary fashion photographer Norman Parkinson's 100th birthday, the man many consider to be the 'father of fashion photography' and it's easy to see why.

Born Ronald William Parkinson Smith in London, 1913 he started his photographic career as an apprentice to court photographers Speaight & Sons before opening his own studio in 1934. By 1938 fashion & portrait photography was becoming his main line of work with him regularly contributing to The Bystander and shooting on location for the British edition of Harper's Bazaar.

During the war Parkinson split his time between farming and working as recconnaissance photographer for the RAF. But after the war he returned to the more glamorous world of fashion and joined Condé Nast where he remained until 1960 shooting iconic images for British & American Vogue.

In 1964 he emigrated to Tobago to focus on his passion for farming, but remained a dominant force in fashion photography until his death in 1990 shooting on location for Vogue, Life and Elle.





Parkinson shot his models in real life scenes, in exotic locations and with unusual props. A breath of fresh air to fashion photography. He wanted his models to, "be out there in the fields jumping over the hayocks".

To celebrate the wonderful life & works of this legendary photographer, BBC4 are showing a 60 minute documentary tonight at 9pm and if you want to see his images in all their glory there's a retrospective of his work, 'Lifework: Norman Parkinson's Century of Style' running at the National Theatre, London until the 12th May.

All images copyright Norman Parkinson / Norman Parkinson Archive.

Sun 21 Apr 2013

Posted under: Photography , Inspiration , Exhibition

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Howdoos back in stock!



Our Etsy shop is now fully stocked with a fresh batch of Howdoos - business cards for everyone + anyone.

Hand letter-pressed onto a thick, pulpy beermat stock these personalisable business cards have 'hello' (hot pink) or 'nice to meet you' (black) on the front and 3 blank spaces on the reverse for your contact  details.

Fri 19 Apr 2013

Posted under: Design , Typography , Delicious work

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Peskimo






We've been checking out The Mighty Pencil's new site and are loving the work of Bristol based illustration duo Peskimo. So many fun characters, lashings of retro styling and lots of bold, bright colours what's not to like - a perfect bit of Thursday afternoon inspiration.

All illustrations copyright Peskimo.

Thu 18 Apr 2013

Posted under: Prints , Inspiration , Illustration

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Sell! Sell!'s Efficacious Fentimans Ad

Our friends Sell! Sell! have been busy hand-letterpressing the elements of their new Fentimans 'faithful to the originals' ad to give it a traditional, authentic feel.
Obviously the final design had to be created digitally, but all the elements were made into a block and letterpressed onto a range of papers to get different ink coverage before being scanned to create the final advert design.
I think you'll agree it was well worth the effort, you can really tell the difference between this and previous ads which have been created purely digitally - this one has so much more charm and depth.

Images copyright Sell! Sell!

Printer's Pie

I dug out an old type book, Lettering Alphabets the other day that I bought a long time ago but never really looked at. In it I found this article about Printer's Pie, a 10' x 5' typographic mural by Alan J Bastien in 1955.

Printer's Pie was commissioned by Fuller's Ltd. for the newly refurbished 'Jiffy Bar' in their Ludgate Circus restaurant - right by Fleet Street in the heart of London's print-land.

The mural, "composed entirely of a giant photograph of letters chosen from nearly four hundred of the type alphabets used in modern printing and general lettercraft" includes names of UK newspapers, typefaces, type foundries and type designers. It's also thought to be the first public presentation of the Mistral typeface, designed by Roger Excoffon for the Fonderie Olive, Marseillies in 1955.

In December 1955 Printing News used Printer's Pie as the basis of a type identification competition and it was also the theme of 'Typographical Centre' exhibitions at Southgate Library and at the Bastien Studio during the 'International Typographical Year 1957'.

I have no idea if the mural still exists, but here it is in all it's glory back in 1955...


Fri 12 Apr 2013

Posted under: Design , Typography , lettering

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Live a Quiet Life…


Live a quiet life & work with your hands - the perfect motto for any creative studio. We are loving this new screenprint from Dana Tanamachi's Studio showcasing her fabulous chalk lettering.

It's available here and comes in Black Licorice (main pic), Paver Red, Timber Green or Nightshift Blue.

Images copyright Dana Tanamachi.

The love of imperfection






I'm a huge fan of vintage circus posters, with their simple illustrations, bold type and garish colours. The fast, cheap production meant the print was a crude, but for me that's their charm and when you zoom in on small sections the imperfections are exaggerated making them even more wonderful.

From the reference box #136

#136 - "Farmhouse Teas' Recipes leaflet by Summer County Margarine, circa. 1950. This lovely little leaflet is packed with margarine based recipes illustrated with some fine 50's food photography, but I bought it purely for the giant 't' and the leaves on the Summer County ad!



Auto Type XXVX






Auto Type XXVX - some lovely American lettering to get us through the rest of the week. The C-750 Big Job Ford was the hands down the biggest auto type I've ever seen!

If Auto type is your thing, check out the rest of our collection here and here.

Daphne Padden Tea Towels




The wonderful Daphne Padden collages discovered and reproduced as screen prints by Quad Royal (read about them here) are now available as fabulous tea towels over on ToDryFor. Problem is, they're almost too gorgeous to dry dishes with!

Tue 02 Apr 2013

Posted under: Prints , Things to buy , Illustration

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Welcome to the Delicious Industries blog. We're an independent design studio based in Brighton, UK and this is our scrapbook packed full of design, illustration, photography & typography inspiration. Check out our work here.

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