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With packaging on my mind more than ever right now, I found my way over to Dieline where I found their 2011 Dieline Awards gallery. While there's many styles to be found, I find myself wrestling with the fact that many of today's most lauded pieces (be it Dieline, Print, CommArts, etc.) are simply rehashes of 19th & 20th century design works.
While I age or distress much of my work in addition to occasionally reaching back to utilize vintage imagery – I maintain a goal of achieving a feeling via select elements, not an overall replication. How disappointing it will be one day to have someone review much-heralded work from these times – only to discover that the innovation behind the work was done 100 years prior, by hand no less.
With great reason these early 20th century works resonate with today's designers. Their innovation and craft launched themselves within the wave of the industrial revolution, and changed the shape of the applied arts forever. But now, more than ever, I'm conscious of allowing only inspiration – not imitation – to enter into my works.
