Lighting up the world

Japan, circa 1900

Japan, circa 1910

Jumbo size Japanese labels, circa 1920

Japan, circa 1935

China

India, circa 1930

Czechoslovakia, circa 1950

Russia, circa 1960

Russia, circa 1965

Germany

All these great match labels come from wackystuff's wonderful ephemera collection on flickr. I have always been attracted to ephemera, and when a teenager I dabbled in vintage items ranging from small razor blade boxes to foulard souvenirs and old fascist notebooks. But I never managed to become a serious collector like wackystuff, aka Jeffrey Errick, who in the eighties used to explore San Francisco thrift stores and flea markets, and is now generously sharing many of his treasured finds on the web. Jeffrey is also a mail artist, and you can go see his postcards and trading cards on his blog and tumblr.

One more tree

Discovered today: Fortune Tree by Sarah King at the Evening Tweed graphic design collective

Monday Matticchio - Dream on a tree

Sunday Safari - Life on a tree

Illustration from The Night Life of Trees by Durga Bai, Bhajju Shyam and Ram Singh Urveti

Cover illustration for a Sports Illustrated feature, Bird Watcher's Guide, by Arthur Singer

from fast-times' flickr photostream

Dances and Rhapsodies, Concert Hall Records cover, from letslookupandsmile's wonderful flickr collection

Untitled aluminum panel by Asiru Olatunde, Nigeria, 1966,

from the Artful Animals exhibition at the National Museum of African Art in Washington

Zdzislaw Witwicki, cover illustration for Kto w lesie mieszka by Czeslaw Janczarski, Poland, 1958

thanks to the always amazing A Journey Round my Skull

From the book Poster Artists of Moscow, 1977, thanks to Grain Edit

Peacock Tree print, from Geninne's art blog

Animals in a tree by Joanne Liu, discovered thanks to The art room plant

Banner by Rob Alexander, from The Urban Forest Project

1970s poster for Japan Trust Bank Union, thanks again to Grain Edit!

Animals in tree pillow ilustration by Nate Williams

Árvore Sofia adhesive illustration by Fernando Volken Togni

Beast wishes

RAI publication cover, 1960

I was delighted to discover the official website devoted to Sergio Ruffolo (1916-1989), one of 

the semi-forgotten pioneers of Modernist Italian design. From the mid-forties to the late eighties, 

Ruffolo worked as a freelance graphic artist for many Italian corporations, political parties and 

state companies including RAI, the state–owned television channel.His assignments ranged 

from logos and advertising campaigns to annual reports, editorial design, title sequences for 

tv programs and various promotional materials. Ruffolo was the designer behind some of the major 

Italian newspaper layouts, most notably the iconic la Repubblica in 1976. He also painted 

and created sculptures, ceramics, jewellery, and collectible card decks. In spite of this varied 

and prolific output, until recently there was hardly any reference to Ruffolo's work on the web. 

The website (still under construction) is well designed and already showcases a wealth of materials, 

from Murano glass chess pieces to newspaper grids and road safety campaigns. 

Animals, and owls in particular, were Ruffolo's favorite subjects in all media.

Dragonflies ceramic plate

Fantastic animal, decomposable plexiglas sculpture, 1974

Owl n.2 and Horses n.2 paintings, 1973–4

Owl and Horse iron sculptures, 1975

My favorite section on the website is a great series of greeting cards, all illustrated with lovable animals 

holding mistletoe branches. I assume that Ruffolo designed these every year to be sent to friends and clients.

All images are copyright © 2008 Famiglia Ruffolo.