Blog: Inspiration

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

1 Comment

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

0 Comments

Who made the Pantone chip?


“God created the world in seven days, and on the eighth day, he called Pantone to put color into it.” Lawrence Herbert

Many of us use the Pantone colour system pretty much everyday, but do any of you know it's origins - who created it, how and why?

No? Neither did I until today when I read this great little article in The NY Times.

Via the lovely @MaraidDesign on Twitter.

Tue 26 Feb 2013

Posted under: Design , Inspiration

0 Comments

From the reference box #133

Right, we're back in the zone, our poor blog has been the victim of our super busy December!

#133 - Monotype Newsletter 90, November 1971. I completely forgot buying a few 70's copies of the Monotype Newsletter last Summer, so it was a pleasant surprise to find them hidden away in the reference box.

Here's No. 90, the first of the new format newsletters which includes a selection of pangrams on the inside covers, a list of London Monotype machine typesetters, an article on Michelin Guides, some metric conversions and a little history of Times Condensed...








Tue 11 Dec 2012

Posted under: Design , Typography , Ephemera , Reference box , Inspiration

0 Comments

Auto type XXVI








Some new additions to our own collection of Auto Type - the last batch from this years shows, although I'm hoping to find some rare lettering delights at the NEC Classic Car Show next weekend!

Fri 09 Nov 2012

Posted under: Design , Typography , Inspiration , automobilia , lettering

0 Comments

Sell! Sell!'s Extraordinary Bar Ad for Drambuie


The new Drambuie TV and cinema ad from our friends at Sell! Sell! builds on the 'A Taste of the Extraordinary' campaign launched last year and is so weirdly wonderful we just can't stop watching it. 

We are a little concerned what goes on in their heads though to create such a surreal landscape of colourful characters!

Fri 12 Oct 2012

Posted under: Advertising , Inspiration

0 Comments

Lance Wyman at Designival


I've just read that New York designer Lance Wyman, of Mexico 1968 Olympic branding (above) fame will be a keynote speaker at this year's Designival in Liverpool. Really wish I still lived up north!

Pegged as the north's largest design festival, Designival will also feature "keynote sessions, masterclasses from Liverpool creatives Apposing, Milky Tea and Uniform as well as studio tours, an architour (in association with RIBA), networking, exhibitions, portfolio surgeries, and an after-party running well into the night."

Get more information and book tickets here.

Via CR Blog.
Image copyright Lance Wyman.

Tue 09 Oct 2012

Posted under: Design , Typography , Inspiration

0 Comments

Bauhaus: Art as Life

© László Moholy-Nagy, Prospectus cover for14 Bauhausbücher (14 Bauhaus Books), 1928. Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau. © Hattula Moholy-Nagy/DACS 2012


© Erich Consemüller, Lis Beyer or Ise Gropius sitting on the B3 club chair by Marcel Breuer and wearing a mask by Oskar Schlemmer and dress fabric by Beyer, c.1927. Herzogenrath, Berlin. © Estate Erich Consemüller


 © Walter Gropius, Graph of the educational curriculum at the Bauhaus, 1923. Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin. © DACS 2012


© Josef Albers, Set of four stacking tables, c.1927. © The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Artists Rights Society, New York and DACS, London 2012

This Sunday is the last day you can catch the wonderful Bauhaus: Art as Life at The Barbican. The largest exhibition in the UK for 40 years documenting the iconic Bauhaus art school and it's post WW1 vision.

Bauhaus: Art as Life "explores the diverse artistic production that made up it's turbulent fourteen-year history and delves into the subjects at the heart of the school: art, culture, life, politics and society, and the changing technology of the age".

If you can't get down to see it don't panic, the exhibition catalogue is fantastic and available to buy here along with some beautiful Bauhaus designed goodies. But if you do visit, be sure to check out our letter-pressed greetings cards in the shop! 

Tue 07 Aug 2012

Posted under: Design , Art , Inspiration , Exhibition

0 Comments

Help Save The Dover Bookshop


The Dover Bookshop needs our help! Every designer I know has used a Dover book at some point and their amazingly resourceful books grace the shelves of many a swanky design studio, yet they're in trouble and need the support of the design community to keep going.

For those who aren't familiar with The Dover Bookshop, shame on you! Long before you could drag reference images off the internet, The Dover Bookshop was a wealth of copyright and permission-free imagery and a huge source of inspiration.

They've been selling their range of pictorial archive books in Covent Garden for 25 years, but are struggling to survive the recession. Please buy even just one book from here to help keep this wonderful institution around for another 25 years!

Image copyright The Dover Bookshop.

Fri 03 Aug 2012

Posted under: Design , Things to buy , Inspiration , Books

4 Comments

Designed to Win





To coincide with the 2012 Olympics, the Design Museum in association with Oakley have curated, Designed to Win, an exhibition showcasing outstanding design & innovation in sport and celebrating "the ways in which design and sport are combined, pushing the limits of human endeavour to achieve records and victories of increasing significance and wonder". 

It looks at the relationship between design and sport; how design has progressed some sport, how sport has influenced design and how this relationship has led to winning performances.

The exhibition opened today and runs until 18 November 2012 so there's plenty of time to get down there and see it (for your own sanity though, it's probably best to wait until the Olympic circus has left town).

Images copyright Justine AW (Rugenius).
Via Notcot.

Thu 26 Jul 2012

Posted under: Design , Inspiration , Exhibition

0 Comments

Wheels and dials!

Image copyright Snapatorium
Image copyright Snapatorium
Image copyright Double--M
Image copyright Catasterist
It's no secret that I'm a lover of wheels and dials, so when I was asked to add a couple of my collection to the Vintage Wheel Chart Flickr group it was great to find some that I've never seen before.

I really need to find me one of those Carnation World's Great Invention ones!

See more of my collection here.

Fri 01 Jun 2012

Posted under: Design , Inspiration , collections

0 Comments

Happy birthday to us!

 
The Delicious blog is 4 today and this is just some of the fabulous design, ephemera, photography and packaging we've posted about over the last year.

Huge thanks to all of you for dropping by and showing your support - it's very much appreciated smile

Here's to another design packed year!

Mon 12 Mar 2012

Posted under: Design , Ephemera , Delicious work , Inspiration

6 Comments

From the reference box # 122







#122 - Vintage slide rules and dials from the 40's, 50's and 60's. I realised after finding the Nuclear dials and slide collection the other day, that I had only ever posted a few of my own dials and slides.

So here are a few more, from Dial-o-metric to Trigonomotry ratios, there's almost a dial for every occassion!

You can see the rest of my collection here or have a rummage for the others in our reference box.

Thu 16 Feb 2012

Posted under: Design , Reference box , Inspiration , collections

0 Comments

Graphis Magazine







I've always been a fan of Graphis magazine and Walter Herdeg, so it was great to stumble upon these Graphis covers on Designers books, many of which I hadn't seen before. They're all fantastic, but it's the really bold, bright ones (above) that I'm most drawn to.

These beauties are from the personal collection of designer and art director, Sébastien Hayez who has 83 issues of Graphis and 15 Graphis annuals! You can see his full collection here along with lots and lots of other coveted design books - thanks for sharing Sébastien.

All images copyright Sébastien Hayez.

Thu 02 Feb 2012

Posted under: Design , Inspiration , Magazine

0 Comments

Michelin Bibendum Building

I had the pleasure of seeing the Michelin Bibendum building for the first time a few weeks ago. It's a fantastic piece of architecture designed by Francois Espinasse - a Michelin employee at the time, who wasn't even a trained architect.

The building sits at 81 Fulham Road, Chelsea, London. It first opened in 1911 and over it's early years served as the company's general sales office, a tyre fitting centre, warehouse, distribution centre and in the 1950's, Michelin's UK commercial headquarters.

"A truly unique building that incorporated design ideas that anticipated the Art Deco movement 10 years later. It was the first building in London to use reinforced concrete in its
construction and its distinctive style was never copied, leaving Michelin House a totally unique building."

These days this magnificent building houses the Bibendum Restaurant, the Oyster Bar, the Crustacea Stall, a forecourt café and The Conran Shop. After being bought in 1985 by Sir Terence Conran and Paul Hamlyn who had the full building restored and all the original features put back to their former glory.
It really is well worth a visit, but if you can't see it in person there's more info here.

Before and after images copyright Bibendum.

Tue 15 Nov 2011

Posted under: Design , Inspiration , Architecture

0 Comments

Welcome

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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