I’ve been doing a bit of cleaning up and clearing out and found a ton of awesome things I’ve hung on to from my childhood and “formative” years. (we are not going to address the elephant in the room regarding how old I am, lol) ANYWAY… Most of these are things that really influenced my design aesthetic, and perhaps for some (probably many) of you, they will be new-to-you, if not at least entertaining to see. I think it’s always good to know where we’ve been in order to know where we’re going. So, I figured I’ll start my own little “Flashback Friday” series, starting with this great flyer from Crate & Barrel.
I was first introduced to Crate & Barrel in high school, when my family moved from Garden Grove, CA to Irvine, CA. There I quickly discovered the famous South Coast Plaza shopping mall, and as a result, discovered the magical land of Crate & Barrel, and have been ever since. Check out this “Back to College”-themed flyer that they came out with back in 1989.
It’s interesting to see how so much of the product featured in it could easily still be found in stores today. I realize almost all of it is black and white (with the exception of signature 80’s “teal”), but seeing as so many 80’s inspired prints and styling are back in fashion, you could easily mistake some of the vignettes as items that could be in a store today.
Is it that some things really haven’t changed that much some 23 years later or that we’ve come full circle? or is it that a good design remains timeless? Crate & Barrel has always featured clean simple modern designs, so perhaps this is a testament to the later. See anything you’d like back then… today?