BLAG 01 - Magazine - Page 18
Inside Letterform Archive
USA
The Lehmann Label Collection
The maquettes were painted at scale, just
a few centimetres wide, by in-house artists
with incredible skills in lettering and miniature
illustration. These preliminary models served
as client presentations that would later be
reproduced by chromolithography. Over 50
examples are on view in the Online Archive,
where the quality of the imagery lets you zoom
into details like gouache, ink, pencil sketches,
and cut-paper corrections.
ome of Letterform Archive’s most
treasured holdings are unique objects of
the design process—steps on the way to
a final printed piece that tell the story of how it
was made. Among these gems is a set of c.200
hand-painted labels from Lehmann Printing and
Lithography Company. The labels, mostly for
beverages of the 1920s–30s, include many soft
drinks with amusing names produced during the
United States’ prohibition of alcohol.
S
Label comp for Spizz, Carbonated Sparkling Water, 11 x
8 cm (4.3” x 3.1”), 1920–1930. “It Mixes and How!” Many
drinks produced during prohibition were sold as mixers
for alcohol purchased on the black market. Note the
variety of inventive lettering styles and the masterful use
of only white and blue for the water and shadow effects.
Label comp for Sunset Club Strawberry Soda, 10 x 9 cm
(3.9” x 3.5”), 1920–1930. Pencil notes indicate that the
main text should be removed to create a blank label for
multiple uses, as well as a company name change.
Letterform Archive is a not-for-profit centre for inspiration, education,
and community in San Francisco with an accessible collection of over
75,000 objects that tell the story of calligraphy, lettering, typography,
and graphic design.
Letterform Archive / @letterformarchive
Visit letterformarchive.org where the online collections can be accessed.
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