Wednesday, 24 August 2011

Illustrated Book Of The Week : Shop America

shopamerica7


If you put all my favorite things into a pot, stirred them up and made them into a book. You might well get this.


shopamerica


Shops! America!! Mid Century Design!!! Who could ask for anything more?


shopamerica5


Shop America is a large format collection of 'style suggestions' for shop design from the Thirties and Forties. Idealised images of dream stores from one of the most romantic eras of design in the Twentieth Century.


shopamerica1


Everything from sporting good shops and pharmacies


shopamerica3


to cosmetic stores and opticians


shopamerica4


The use of colour is particularly inspiring - just look at the tones suggested for a supermarket (Much as I love Waitrose, this is far more alluring, isn't it?)


shopamerica2


And the illustrations are incredibly stylish - even the sweetshops have a hint of 30's pulp fiction..


shopamerica8


Others are straight out of classic film noir. I could swear that this woman is about to pull a revolver out of her purse and shoot the other chick dead. I've watched enough Joan Crawford films to know, eyebrows like that can only mean one thing...


shopamerica6


...Trouble.





Shop America: Mid-Century Storefront Design, 1938-1950 Edited by Jim Heimann, with an essay by Steven Heller is available from Taschen Books

No comments:

Post a Comment