Tuesday 29 September 2015

Bass Styles

Tile designs by Saul Bass, as featured in Motif, issue 8, 1961.








"In considering the problem of how to approach a surface, there
seem to be several key elements involved. One is colour, another
is pattern or decoration, and still another is the use of the sculptured
or raised surface. When I was asked by Pomona Tile Company
to participate in their design programme, it was this latter
possibility, the sculptural approach, that seemed to demand exploration in relation to tiles.


What resulted is a group of designs that present the possibilities
of treating the tile wall in contemporary terms as a bas-relief.
Since the forms of these tiles are described and delineated by
light, one of the qualities that emerged was that they appeared to
change, as the direction and intensity of the light changed.


The designs have many possibilities in application ranging from
individual tiles sprinkled on a wall; massing in sections; complete
walls; to exterior as well as interior use in areas not normally
considered tile areas. It was my intention that all of these possibilities would occur as a result of a group of designs that would be simple, and yet permissive of a high level of individuality in each of its varied applications."


SAUL BASS

Tuesday 22 September 2015


The Sixties: Getaway People
(UK, Channel 4, 1982) 


Interesting (alright, mostly dull) documentary about the rise of car culture in Britain during the 1960s. Simple but effective title sequence, which finishes with 'The Sixties' in the same typeface as The Avengers tv series. Plenty of provincial town planners tempered with good archive footage. Well, it passes the time.

Particularly pleasing to see Reyner Banham in full ghetto-pimp clobber at 08:00, and adverts for Robochef and Ian Carmichael shilling for Paul Masson's California Carafes at the end of part one. Ah, memories!