Your Victory Garden…….
Add comment October 5th, 2008
Posts filed under 'Art'
House Industries…….
"I like boring things." -Andy Warhol
Who knew? Typography, with a healthy splattering of low culture, really does have the power to change the world.
The crew at House Industries have built their dynasty on a deep reverence for long forgotten, or simply over-looked, icons of pop culture. The group’s uncanny ability to wrap excessive packaging around their stylish fonts only adds to the fun.
Combining their obsessive attention to detail, with a love for unforgiving materials, these guerrilla artists have created fonts which give esteemed treatment to hot rodding, modern furniture, and Planet of the Apes.
If there is any lesson in all this, it would be: House Industries is a run-away success because the artists there know what they like and aren’t afraid to show it. Neither should you.
In fact, the forward to their self titled books sums it up best.
The House aesthetic has always been an unconscious one. Although a couple of us have fancy college art degrees, we’ve always considered ourselves blue-collar designers. The fact is, we were attracted to design before we knew what it really was. Exposure to graphic design came through assorted American sub-cultural phenomena from the past few decades, such as the hardcore music scene, skateboarding and video games. It also didn’t hurt to have pin-striping Dads who built hot rods and older brothers who collected Mad magazine. Not surprisingly, mimicking Santa Cruz deck graphics was incredibly formative, as were the countless hours spent perfecting the interlocking letter forms of Priest and Maiden logos on notebook covers and jean jackets. We absorbed the lettering that surrounded us, even though it would be years until we were schooled enough to recognize that the Thrasher masthead was a stylized rendition of Banco.
Add comment August 23rd, 2007
