@rafdevis » vintage

Olympics 1968

rafdevis — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 21:10:54 +0000

Loving these shots from the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico (how about that wicked logo?!) found via the Google source:life Search option. That grain and color makes these athletes seem heroic already for some reason (no idea who they are). Reminds me I have to sort through my shots of the Olympic town in Barcelona. Will do shortly.

Vintage stamps

rafdevis — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:24:08 +0000

Outrageously beautiful set of stamps via Adapt Or Die. Not in the least because many of them are from the Netherlands (and how come Canada‘s stuff is always amazing?). Great exercise to try and fit so much beauty into a square this small. A pitty people are encouraged to lick these things.

EXPO ’58

rafdevis — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:22:24 +0000

In 2008 Brussels celebrated the 50th anniversary of the World Exposition ’58 which gave it the amazing atomium just as in 1989 it gave Paris the Eiffel tower. At the time I didn’t walk this earth yet (my parents barely did for that matter) but it definitely left its mark on the city and Belgian culture in general. For one the first color television was introduced at the American Pavilion after which it soon became thé must-have for every culturally developed citizen (has this been reversed by now seeing many artistically minded people in Brussels shun television for its ‘popular’ character?). Also, many Belgians drank Coca-Cola for the first time. And what about the Russians having a duplicate model of the Sputnik III in their pavilion!

The Expo brought a wave of amazing design both in architecture as in the marketing campaign surrounding it. You can easily find tons of pictures of all the pavilions that were built around the atomium especially for this fair. One of the reasons I started looking into this topic is because I’ll be getting married in the church which was built for the exposition. It was later moved just outside of Brussels but still in use and beautiful.

Harder to find are the amazing prints that were produced. Here’s a selection of prints which I think capture great the vibe of innovation and ‘a new era’ people must have experienced in Europe those days.

PS: also, have a look at this great website which digitalized the Viewmaster sets which were made of the Expo.

Lord of the flies

rafdevis — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:18:06 +0000

Some fun images by painter Sam Weber which Signalnoise made me aware of. They were made for a new edition of the ‘Lord of the flies’ story by William Golding. I’ve never seen the movie nor read the book but I’m starting to think I should. Loving the black & white screenshots Google spits out as well as the random artworks inspired by LOTF. Although the new red cover is definitely nice, I’m afraid it won’t be able to compete with the original image (bottom of page). With the white lettering the original is even more amazing.

Summershots

rafdevis — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:34:32 +0000

Some pictures made the past month.

Good times’ toys

rafdevis — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:54:29 +0000

A few months ago my fiancee took out her old Playmobil pirate island and barbie dolls for her cousins at a family reunion. This made me think of the great toys we used to have. No rant against modern toys although I do think they are way less inspiring than what we used to play with in the 80′s. Just because kids like us used to have no X-box or 300+ channels on TV and we still had a more than great time …

Here some toys that filled my day-to-day activities and I must be forgetting some. Cowboy and indian are high on the list as well, together with my rubber canoe and bow (without the string after careful consideration by my parents) & arrow. Football would be the consistent sauce binding all other ingredients together. And that wooden car garage my dad made with a real light bulb inside. Here’s to great toys which, when I close my eyes, I can still smell, feel and hear.

The smell of Play-Doh and the way you weren’t supposed to mix colors. The awe you felt when looking into that Viewmaster. The great feeling of marbles in your pockets which made this screeching sound when pressed against each other. The fun of rewinding cassette tapes trying to find a song and the weirdness of all those songs on a tiny piece of celluloid. ‘For he’s a jolly good fellow‘ blasting from my Fisher Price tape recorder with that huge ‘eject’ button on the side. Playmobil and Lego, so different yet so the same. Super Wheels which would change color in hot water. And of course the electric train my dad put up on a tbale in the hallway and which he enjoyed at least as much as I did.