2023

Best LPs 2023Music:
Kosmischer Laufer – Volume 5 LP (UCR)
Soia, Julien Sénélas, Jérôme Vassereau – In C for 11 Oscillators and 53 Forms LP (unjenesaisquoi)
Cate Brooks – Tapeworks DL (Cafe Kaput)
Memorials – Music For Film: Tramps! LP (State 51 Conspiracy)
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse… LP (Album of the year)
Field Lines Cartographer – Moonbuilding Sessions LP (CiS Subscription Library)
Brian Eno – The Lighthouse radio station (Sonos) (most listened to)
Niholoxica – Source of Denial LP (Crammed Discs)
SareemOne – Olivine Window
Coast Contra – Breathe & Stop Freestyle/Never Freestyle/Scenario Freestyle
Move78 – Grains LP
Heiroglyphic Being – The Moon Dance LP (Apnea)
Raj Pannu – Past Crimes EP 12″ (To Pikap Records)
Gordon Chapman-Fox – The Nine Travellers LP (Castles In Space Subscription Library)

Podcasts:
Oh God What Now?
Cartoonist Kayfabe
Jonny Trunk’s Patreon Show
What Goes Around
The Bunker
The Bureau of Lost Culture
Not A Diving Podcast with Scuba

Best of Live events 2023-2
Gigs / Events:
Art of Noise @Jazz Café, London
The Light Surgeons – SuperEverything launch @iklectik, London
Quadraphon debut @Ramsgate Music Hall, Ramsgate
Beyond The Streets exhibition @Saatchi gallery, London
Pop Up Subculture festival, Stroud
Holotronica, @IMAX Bristol
Sunroof / Finlay Shakespeare @iklectik, London
0282 Club, the library, Burnley
Paul Cousins @iklectik, London
The Light Surgeons – The Consensual Hallucination @iklectik, London
Memorials at the State 51 Summer Psych party @State 51, London
Queens of the Stone Age @Glastonbury
FogFest2 @iklectik, London
JG Thirlwell & Emsemble @Bush Hall, London
The Book & Record Bar 10th anniversary party, London
Machina Bristronica, Bristol
Visiting Peel Acres with Eilon Paz of Dust & Grooves
Nihiloxia @the Jazz Cafe, London
NEXT Festival, Bratislava, Slovakia

Best design 2023
Design / Packaging:
Yves Malone – A Hello To A Goodbye LP (Castles In Space)
Drumetrics – Phuzzle (Drumetrics)
Waclaw Zimpel – Train Spotter LP (State 51)
David Boulter – Factory 3″ CD (Clay Pipe Music)
Fluctuosa – Wetware EP 12″ (Analogical Force)
Fluxus – Orbit & Shine LP (Castles In Space)
Floating Points – Birth4000 12″ (Ninja Tune)
Cate Brooks – Easel Studies LP + badge (Clay Pipe Music)
Brian Eno – Top Boy OST CD (Beatink)

Artists:
Kallamity
Soda
Nick Taylor (Spectral Studio)
Louise Mason
Francis Castle (Clay Pipe)
Tradd Moore
KO_Computer
Kishi Omori
Autone1
Mike Mignola
Geometric Love
Anna Readman
Zoe Thorogood
Colin & Maria @ Time Released Sound

Best books 2023
Books / Magazines / Comics:
Medical Grade Music – Steve Davis & Kavis Torabi (White Rabbit)
Doctor Strange – Fall Sunrise – Tradd & Heather Moore (Marvel)
Tales To Enlighten – The New Testament – Matt King and James Edward Clark
Beyond The Streets exhibition book
Pop – Milton Glaser (Phaidon)
Kevin O’Neill Apex Edition (2000AD)
Mark Stafford – Salmonella Smorgasbord (Soaring Penguin Press)
Savage Impressions – Bruce Lichen (Independent Project Records)
Hexagon Bridge – Richard Blake (Image)
Monica – Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics)
Acid Valley – Luke Insect
Petrol Head – Rob Williams & Pye Parr (Image)
Lawless – Dan Abnett & Phil Winslade (Rebellion)
Giant Robot Hellboy – Mignola/Fegredo (Dark Horse)
Facelss & The Family – Matt Lesniewski (Oni Press)

Film:
Barbie
Squaring The Circle : The Story of Hipgnosis

What Have I done 2023
Another year over and what have I done?
Designed a retro jungle cover for District 1727 release Rinse Out The Raw Steel
Opened for The Art of Noise two nights running at the Jazz Cafe
Designed The Home Current & Peter Wix and UNE CDs for Spun Out Of Control
Performed at Candlemas with Julian Hand, Heena Song, Paul Naudin and Whyte Light Visuals
Started working with visual artist PuttyRubber with my Quadraphon turntable at live gigs
Designed the Stasis 12″‘Quondam Sequences’ for De:tuned
Edited a short video for Holotronica after their Bristol event (not sure this ever got broadcast/finished actually)
Restarted my Infinite Illectrik label with 7 monthly releases from May
Mixed two new volumes of The Funky Eno with selections provided by Nohbodhi
Gave talks about Wheels of Light in Stroud and Brighton
Collaborated with Graham Dunning live with visuals by PuttyRubber and Chromatech for FogFest2
Appeared on the 45 Live and What Goes Around podcasts
Wrote the theme for the new Why? podcast
Remade and remixed Amon Tobin’s Permutation LP artwork for the 25th reissue
Continued the weekly Mixcloud Select series of archive mix uploads
Designed and illustrated Wonders of the Undersea World LP for Trunk Records including a sheet of stickers to make your own cover design.
Designed zoetropes for T Rex, Donna Summer, Dr Who, Lily Allen and Steps(!)
Designed the Pulse Five EP, poster and postcards for FSOL, working with Jonas Ranson again on the screenprint
Designed the De:tuned 15 logo and T-shirt for the label’s fifteenth year in 2024
Designed the Clerkenwell Kid Junkyard Melodies album + ephemera and 3″ Xmas Winter Warmers companion CD for Stephen Coates/The Real Tuesday Weld
Designed the A’bear album sleeve for Castles In Space
Contributed vintage graffiti photos to the second Old So Kool book about the UK graf scene in the 80s
Ongoing research into at least three other book projects…

RIP:
Alan Rankin, Jeff Beck, David Crosby, Burt Bacharach, Raquel Welch, Alain Goraguer, Lee Purkis aka In Sync, Paul O’Grady, Al Jaffee, Jah Shaka, Mary Quant, Mark Stewart, Frank Kozik, Andy Rourke, Peter Jones (Colourscape designer), Martin Amis, Kenneth Anger, Tina Turner, Astrud Gilberto, John Romita Snr, Glenda Jackson, Jane Birkin, Paul Rubens, Jamie Reid, Michael Parkinson, David McCallum, Mark the 45 King, Benjamin Zephaniah, Ian Gibson,

Looking forward 2024
Looking forward to:
Candlemas II
Gary Hustwit’s Eno film
The Time Released Sound Book – A Decade of Handmade Music Packaging
Furiosa – A Mad Max Saga
The Hoppy documentary
Richard Norris’ autobiography, Strange Things Are Happening
Sophia Satchell-Baeza’s ‘Sensuous Laboratories’ book
The The’s new tour
Doug Shipton’s new Fundamental Frequencies label
More collaborations

Christmas Collector Countdown 2023 #18: Obscure Records Collection

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A daily post throughout December of records, CDs, books, comics or other ephemera that I’ve bought or been given recently from independent artists, labels or publishers who would welcome your support.

#18. Obscure Records Collection 10xLP/CD box set 
w. book
The Brian Eno-curated mid-70s label gets the reissue treatment and it’s beautifully done but not cheap! 10xCD set with book around £130, 10xLP set with book around £300-£430!
Downloads of six of the albums are available on the label’s Bandcamp for €12 per LP – minus the classics by Eno, Penguin Cafe, Michael Nyman, Harold Budd (which you can find easily elsewhere).

https://spaceechorecords.bandcamp.com/
See more details in my earlier post

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Christmas Collector Countdown 2023 #16: Various Artists – Tape Excavation LP

Tape Excavation front
A daily post throughout December of records, CDs, books, comics or other ephemera that I’ve bought or been given recently from independent artists, labels or publishers who would welcome your support.

Tape Excavation back
#16. Various Artists – Tape Excavation LP
Literally what it says on the tin; obscurities from the tape drawer compiled by Bruce Licher and beautifully printed on a custom card sleeve with inserts, all lovingly detailed in the Savage Impressions book that this originally accompanied which showcases 30 years of the Independent Print Project label’s release history.

https://brucelicher.bandcamp.com/album/tape-excavation

https://independentprojectrecords.bandcamp.com/merch/savage-impressions-an-aesthetic-expedition-through-the-archives-of-independent-project-records-press-book
https://independentprojectrecords.bandcamp.com/music

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Tape Excavation detail
Tape Excavation inside
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Christmas Collector Countdown 2023 #15: Stereolab – The In Sound stamp sheets

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A daily post throughout December of records, CDs, books, comics or other ephemera that I’ve bought or been given recently from independent artists, labels or publishers who would welcome your support.

Stereolab stamps 2
#15. Stereolab – The In Sound stamp sheets
Commemorative stamps that went with the long sold out 7” release Independent Project Records made with Stereolab.

https://independentprojectrecords.bandcamp.com/merch/stereolab-the-in-sound-stamp-sheets-set-of-4-different-colors

https://independentprojectrecords.bandcamp.com/music



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Christmas Collector Countdown 2023 #14: Source: The Independent Project Records Collection CD

Source front
A daily post throughout December of records, CDs, books, comics or other ephemera that I’ve bought or been given recently from independent artists, labels or publishers who would welcome your support.

Source back no
#14. Various Artists – Source: The Independent Project Records Collection CD
A starting point for newcomers to the label, largely run, designed and printed by Bruce Licher, featuring a number of his own aliases alongside post-punk bands of the 80s and 90s.

https://sourcevariousartistscompilation.bandcamp.com/album/source-the-independent-project-records-collection

https://independentprojectrecords.bandcamp.com/music

Source back
Source CD
Source inside
Source package

Christmas Collector Countdown 2023 #13: Bruce Licher – Exploratorium 3” CD / Expanded CD

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A daily post throughout December of records, CDs, books, comics or other ephemera that I’ve bought or been given recently from independent artists, labels or publishers who would welcome your support.

Exploratorium CD back

#13. Bruce Licher – Exploratorium 3” CD / Expanded CD
The first of several releases I’m going to feature from Independent Project Records. The exquisitely designed and letterpress-printed releases on this label have to be seen and held in the flesh to be fully appreciated.
This is label owner Bruce Licher’s solo ambient explorations, firstly as a 3″ CD held onto 12″ square piece of card and later in a custom-printed foldout card sleeve with booklet on regular-sized CD.

https://brucelicher.bandcamp.com/album/exploratorium-expanded

https://brucelicher.bandcamp.com/album/exploratorium

https://independentprojectrecords.bandcamp.com/music



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Exploratorium CD
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Exploratorium detail CD

Christmas Collector Countdown 2023 #11: Kevin Foakes – Wheels of Light book

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A daily post throughout December of records, CDs, books, comics or other ephemera that I’ve bought or been given recently from independent artists, labels or publishers who would welcome your support.

#11. Kevin Foakes – Wheels of Light + Four Corners Books
Got to plug something of my own – my book on projection wheel designs for British light shows has been out for just over a year now and the lovely people at Four Corners Books have a wealth of obscure publications to complement it.

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WOL5
There’s still time to buy from Four Corners before Xmas and, if you spend over £30 on their site, they’ll send you a limited edition enamel pin designed by John Morgan, plus a Bearandas postcard as an extra stocking filler. Offer ends 18 Dec, while stocks last

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https://www.fourcornersbooks.co.uk/books/wheels-of-light/

https://www.fourcornersbooks.co.uk/



Christmas Collector Countdown 2023 #9: Official Report On The Intransitionalist Chronotopologies Of Kenji Siratori: Appendix 8.2.3

TRS book CD
A daily post throughout December of records, CDs, books, comics or other ephemera that I’ve bought or been given recently from independent artists, labels or publishers who would welcome your support.

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TRS book back

#9. Official Report On The Intransitionalist Chronotopologies Of Kenji Siratori: Appendix 8.2.3 Book / CD
 / DL
Avant garde cut and paste collage with the longest title I own plus mind-boggling paperback book from the wonderful Time Released Sound label. They are about to publish a book of 10 years of the label’s releases and packaging too – one to look out for.
https://timereleasedsound.bandcamp.com/album/official-report-on-the-intransitionalist-chronotopologies-of-kenji-siratori-appendix-823
https://timereleasedsound.bandcamp.com/

Christmas Collector Countdown 2023 #8: The Luvmenauts – In Space LP + comic
 / DL

Luvmenauts LP comic
A daily post throughout December of records, CDs, books, comics or other ephemera that I’ve bought or been given recently from independent artists, labels or publishers who would welcome your support. 
Buy links in bio

#8. The Luvmenauts – In Space LP + comic
 / DL
Fuzz drums and electronics with an outer space theme – check,
Luke Insect-designed sleeve – check,
Accompanying comic illustrated by Moon Toboggan – check.
No-brainer
https://theluvmenauts.bandcamp.com/album/in-space
https://dorightmusic.bandcamp.com/
https://www.moontoboggan.com/art
https://michaelmcglennon.bandcamp.com/merch

Luvmenauts LP comic back
Luvmenauts LP back
Luvmenauts comic 1
Luvmenauts comic 2
Luvmenauts comic 3
Luvmenauts comic 4
Luvmenauts comic 5
Luvmenauts comic 6
Luvmenauts comic 7

Christmas Collector Countdown 2023 #6: Luke Insect – Acid Valley book + posters


AVbook
A daily post throughout December of records, CDs, books, comics or other ephemera that I’ve bought or been given recently from independent artists, labels or publishers who would welcome your support.

#9. Luke Insect – Acid Valley book + posters

A3 sized catalogue for the recent Acid Valley exhibition documenting all the posters Luke has designed for Trades in Hebden Bridge and the Golden Lion in Todmorden. He also has limited copies of the posters for sale too if you contact him.
https://lukeinsect.bigcartel.com/product/acid-valley-a3-poster-book
https://cargocollective.com/lukeinsect
https://www.instagram.com/lukeinsect/

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Wonders of the Underwater World covers

Jonny Cuba WOTUW
I want to start a post to document photos of the Jezz Woodroffe covers I see that have been decorated with the sticker sheet provided inside. This fantastic electronic synth soundtrack is available now on Trunk Reords and only the first pressing will have the stickers so if you want a copy get it here before they’re gone.
The above cover is by Johnny Cuba (he promises to do the back soon) and the couple below are by Jason Applin.

Jason Applin back
Jason Applin front
SusansLegPolicy goes for the minimal details below and we finish off with animated Jonny Trunk‘s film…

SusansLegPolicy back 2
SusansLegPolicy back
SusansLegPolicy front


Jonny sent me this stunner from Darren Hall that has a little story to go with it;
“I fought my record nerd urge to keep my copy pristine, and i won, so i gave it to my 11 year old to apply the stickers. He tells me there is a story. The two lower divers are being menaced by pointy toothed sharks so a third diver is coming to their rescue. Meanwhile two other divers, evidently not arsed at all about the perilous situation of their colleagues, are filming some cool fish”.

Darren Hall cover
This just in from Davidboyt84… nice use of fish wrapping round to the back cover there

Davidboyt84
Simon Bowker Heighes has gone a step further and saved sharks for the labels as well as having divers explore the Jezz Woodroffe logo and some nice fish pairing up on the back cover.

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SBH B
SBH cover
SBH back
This just in from Jolyon Green

Jolyon Green cover

Tomi Ungerer’s Electric Circus posters

EC Bra
Tomi Ungerer isn’t a name that’s normally associated with the psychedelic poster movement but he illustrated these posters for the Electric Circus nightclub that existed between 1967 and 1971 on St. Marks Place, Manhattan, New York. The club was a multi-media environment with light shows that hosted the psychedelic bands of the day to the avant garde minimalists and everyone in between. Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable was there as were Jackie Cassen and Rudi Stern‘s ‘Theatre of Light’ shows (also revived some 30 years later).
Ungerer created six posters and one advert in 1969 for the club – subtitled ‘The Ultimate Legal Entertainment Experience’ – focusing on people using electric items in odd ways. His playful work swung from children’s books to political critiques to people interacting with perverse sexual machines – check out his Fornicon works if you can find/afford them.

EC Bulb
EC Buttplug
EC Lamp
EC plug
EC Toaster
EC Vacuum
There are many ads and other posters for the Electric Circus on the web but few are in high quality unfortunately. The main logo typeface (and possibly a lot of the ad layouts) was designed by design company Chermayeff-Geismar, a world-reknown practice who are still in business today.

EC opening
EC Hand
EC Muddy Waters
EC student takeover
ElectricCircus-w-magenta-on-cyan Chermayeff & Geismar
Also just premiering is a new documentary about the club entitled Psychedelicized: The Electric Circus Story which can be watched in person if you’re in NYC or online at the end of the month https://www.docnyc.net/film/psychedelicized-the-electric-circus-story/

Jezz Woodroffe – Wonders of the Underwater World

IMG_6740This one’s been in the pipeline a while now but finally its time has come. Jonny Trunk asked me to repackage the cover to Jezz Woodroffe‘s 1981 album, ‘Wonders of the Underwater World’ over a year ago now but to turn it into a seascape that stickers could be used on to make your own scenario in the style of those old rub down tranfer books from the 70s. He looked for the old Letraset style transfer-makers but to no avail so we plumped for a transparent sticker sheet holding all manner of fish, divers and a SP-350 Denise mini sub as featured in the Jacques Cousteau documentaries.

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Elements of the seabed were generated using AI (well over a year ago now) and then collaged together for the cover and labels. We chose to keep the original typography as it’s so of its time and the insert with the album notes apes the wavey countours of the original back cover. The album is a synth-heavy soundtrack to a documentary about the Truk Lagoon, an infamous battleground which is now home to numerous sunken military vehicles; planes, tanks and boats which are slowly rotting on the sea bed.
You can order it right here and now
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Wheels of Light now out in the US

WOL cover
Not only was my book ‘Wheels of Light’ published a year ago by Four Corners Books but it’s now available in the US with free UPS ground shipping from D.A.P. – they are also supplying bookstores too if you want copies for your store. Order here
Wheels of Light Oil Wheel Optikinetics
WOL8
In other related light show news, Optikinetics are close to fulfilling the Kickstarter for their new Kino projector, a mini home projector that takes 6″ wheels and includes several options to back including one with my book and vintage Pluto wheels.
You can back the campaign and get your own home projector here

Kino projector
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Opti launch their Kino projector


Opti(kinetics) have launched their mini projector the Kino via Kickstarter including an array of wheels, mirrors and even my Wheels of Light book as added incentives. One of the wheels on offer is an original vintage Pluto wheels from the 70s, the company bought the remaining stock from the company many years ago and once these are gone they’re the last of the surviving stock. You can pledge your support here for this lovely little projector that will take magnetic 6″ FX wheels and can be controlled via a phone app. I’ve used a prototype and they are beautiful and work straight out the box, perfect for home use rather than clubs and gigs.

Kino projector

Zodiac posters by Bruce Krefting, 1969

Zodiac Aquarius-Pisces
In my periodic searches for graphic material from the late 60s I came across several sellers on eBay offering these long zodiac door posters from 1969. Designed by Bruce Krefting, printed by Wespac Visual Communications Inc. from San Francisco and standing at 70 inches tall, they form an impressive set of psychedelic typographic designs. Wespac was one of the printing houses that sprung up at the end of the 60s in San Francisco and they produced a number of psychedelic black light posters as well as these. I’ve pieced these together as best I could from various sources on the web but it took a long time to find these in any kind of decent quality. July (Leo) and Nov (Sagittarius) have so far alluded me in any kind of usable quality but I’ll add to the post if I find them.

Zodiac Aries-Taurus Zodiac Gemini-Cancer Zodiac Libra-Scorpio8-12 Zodiac Virgo Capricorn credit 2 Credit

Middle Earth posters

Middle Earth poster colour
Continuing the occasional overview of British psychedelic club advertising I’ve been compiling over the years…
I’ve not come across too many posters for the Middle Earth club, the psychedelic happening in Covent Garden that sprung up and eventually succeeded the UFO club in 1967 through to 1969. Michael English illustrated possibly the most famous poster for the club above and the original art was sold some years ago at auction.
From the auction blurb: “Michael English’s detailed explanatory letter explains that this was the last, and technically the most sophisticated, poster created under the Hapshash name. Printed by offset lithography rather than the usual silkscreen process, the image takes its theme from J.R. Tolkien’s books, from which the Middle Earth derived its name.

Middle Earth poster original canvas
“In typical post-Freudian Hapshash style the content was heavily sexualized but the less explicit version of the two lovers was printed and used for promoting the club’s concerts. Above the lovers, entwined in foliage very much in Alphonse Mucha style, are two windows into two worlds, one of darkness, one of light. Locked in eternal balance, they are a symbol of the symmetry of space-time, as are the lovers – a reflection of each other, independent, yet inter-dependent. English recalls that, at the time, he felt it was somehow dishonest to hide the boy’s genitals in the printed version as it somehow diluted the force of their love and consequently weakened the message.”

Below is the background colour printing plate and below that a rather aged example of an original print.

Middle Earth poster colour plate
Middle Earth Mar April
There’s little info about this landscape poster except the credit at the bottom and the names Marc Tracy and Paul Bennett hidden in the hair. The V&A hold a copy in their archive, originating from 1967 but despite the title, ‘A Trip To Middle Earth’, it’s not clear whether this was for the club or just a Tolkien reference.

Middle Earth poster
Below is a strange anomaly I found; a minute scan of a Middle Earth poster or advert – now upscaled – that cribs its main image and type from an American poster by Clifford Charles Sealey for the Summer of Love festival in San Francisco, dated March 1, 1967. From the dates on the British poster it must be from late 1967, over six months after the American event, I guess the similarity of the name was too good to pass up and they swiped it.

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CTME orig 1967

Donna Summer zoetrope


It’s not every day that you get a text message saying that Donna Summer‘s estate has approved your design’ but that’s what happened a few months back after I designed a zoetrope for the reissue of her ‘Another Place And Time’ album. I even shot and edited this little promo video, yep those are my hands and turntable. The album’s out today on picture disc with die-cut front cover – order here
Use the third party app StroboScopeApp to view it through an iPhone https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/stroboscopeapp/id1260603638

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Nicole Claveloux posters

Nicole C pill 1970
Recently found whilst looking for something else, four posters by French illustrator Nicole Claveloux ranging from 1970 to 1973. Above appears to promote taking the pill from 1970 and below is an Aviation Tourism poster for the UTA Company from the same year in collaboration with Bernard Bonhomme.

Nic Clav Aviation- Tourism - UTA Company., 1970
N claveloux LOVE
The Love poster above is from 1973 and was Danish in origin, as was the Romeo & Juliet poster below, both designed for a Dutch bank, Sparekassen. The former was for the annual ‘Savings Day’ in 1973, the latter as a giveaway for new account openers in 1970 and published by Minerva Poster, Copenhagen. Ahhhh, the 70s…
N claveloux R&J