The papers of Mildred Constantine measure 5.3 linear feet and are dated 1945-2009. Subject files, writings, photographs, and a scrapbook provide an overview of her curatorial work in the Architecture and Design department of the Museum of Modern Art, and subsequent activities as an independent curator, and art consultant. Especially well documented is Whole Cloth, a book written with Laurel Reuter that presents an historical overview of how artists have used cloth in their work.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of Mildred Constantine measure 5.3 linear feet and are dated 1945-2008. Subject files, writings, photographs, and a scrapbook provide an overview of her curatorial work in the Architecture and Design department of the Museum of Modern Art, and subsequent activities as an independent curator, and art consultant. Especially well documented is the book Whole Cloth that she wrote with Laurel Reuter.
Correspondence, though mostly business related, often touches on personal matters since many of the artists and art world figures with whom she corresponded were also friends. Correspondents include Miguel Angel Corzo, Arthur C. Danto, Dorothy Dehner, Allen Hart (who sent more than 40 illustrated letters), Elizabeth Wilder and Donald L. Weisman. She also corresponded with many art institutions and organizations, among them the Cleveland Museum of Art, Independent International Design Conference, El Museo del Barrio, Museum of New Mexico, Ohio State University, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Estate of David Smith.
Subject files reflect Constantine's activities and interests. A large portion of this series concerns Whole Cloth, a book written with Laurel Reuter that presents an historical look at how artists have used cloth in their work. Correspondence between the two authors, with artists, institutions, and others concerns researching and writing the volume. Also documented are the successes and failures of Constantine's decade long pursuit to publish the book. Other substantive files relate to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Getty Conservation Institute, Sheila Hicks, Jack Lenor Larsen, Rhode Island School of Design, and Soviet Film Posters. Files concerning the University of the Arts' 2003 Commencement include a videocassette.
Writings by Constantine are lecture material and notes. Also found are transcripts of interviews with Constantine and writings by others. Printed material includes newspaper and magazine articles about Constantine and her career. A scrapbook of printed material and photographs documents an exhibition of Latin American posters at the Library of Congress organized by Constantine.
Photographs of people include Mildred Constantine with family, friends, artists and others at public and private events around the world. Notable photographs include: Magdalena Abakanowicz, Anni Albers, Alfred Barr, Luis Barragan, Lou Block, Louise Bourgeois, Jagoda Buic, Elaine Lustig Cohen, Charles Coiner, James Marston Fitch, Mathias Goeritz, Ingeborg Ten Haeff, Ann d'Harnoncourt, Sheila Hicks, Richard Koch, Nancy Koenigsberg, Jack Lenor Larsen, Leo Lionni, Roberto Burle Marx, Ruth Reeves, Laurel Reuter, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ben Shahn, Massimo Vignelli, Ulfert Wilke, and Claire Zeisler. Also, there are photographs of artwork by a wide range of artists.
Arrangement:
The Mildred Constantine papers are organized into 8 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1947-1997 (Boxes 1, 6; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1964-2008 (Boxes 1, 6; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 3: Subject Files, 1964-2008 (Boxes 2-5; 3.3 linear feet)
Series 4: Writings, 1991-2008 (Box 5; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1961-2006 (Box 5; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 6: Photographs, 1993 (Box 5; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 7: Artwork, 1945 (Box 5; 1 folder)
Series 8: Scrapbook, circa 1940s (Box 6; 0.1 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Curator and writer Mildred Constantine (1913-2008) was associated with the Museum of Modern Art's Department of Architecture and Design from 1943 to 1971. She then became an art consultant and independent curator, and wrote on fiber and textiles, decorative arts, photography, caricature and cartoons.
Mildred Constantine (known as "Connie") began her career at College Art Association. Hired as a stenographer in 1930, she soon was promoted to editorial assistant for Parnassus, the forerunner of Art Journal.
Constantine left the College Art Association in 1937 to study at New York University and earned BA and MA degrees. She then continued her education at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. In 1940, Constantine worked in the Office of Inter-American Affairs at the Library of Congress; it was there that she met René d'Harnoncourt.
Influenced by her 1936 travels in Mexico, Constantine's first curatorial effort was an exhibition of Latin American posters. Drawn from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the exhibition was held at the Library of Congress.
At the urging of René d'Harnoncourt, The Museum of Modern Art's Architecture and Design Department hired Constantine in 1943. The majority of her 28 year tenure at the museum was spent working with the department's founder, architect Philip Johnson. As a curator during the 1950s and 1960s, Constantine's innovative exhibitions brought lesser known portions of the museum's collection to public attention. Among her exhibtions were: "Words and Images," that focused on graphic design and posters; "Polio Posters," the first Museum of Modern Art show dedicated to social issues; "Olivetti: Design in Industry;" "Signs in the Street;" and "Lettering by Hand." She also published books on Art Nouveau, contemporary package design, and other subjects.
In 1971, Constantine left the Museum of Modern Art to become an independent curator and art consultant. Exhibitions included "Frontiers in Fiber: The Americans," and "Small Works in Fiber" with Jack Lenor Larsen. Tina Modotti: A Fragile Life, Constantine's book on the photographer, actress, model, and political activist, appeared in 1974. That same year, she and Alan Fern produced Revolutionary Soviet Film Posters that focused on works from the 1920s. Her last published work, Whole Cloth, was written with Laurel Reuter and published in 1997. Constantine continued to research and write, and at the time of her death was working on a large, international survey of the study of thread.
Mildred Constantine and Ralph W. Bettelheim (1909-1993) were married for 50 years. They had two daughters, Judith and Vicki.
Mildred Constantine died from heart failure on December 10, 2008, at home in Nyack, New York.
Related Material:
Oral history interviews with Mildred Constantine were conducted for the Archives of American Art by Harlan Phillips, 1965 October 15, and by Paul Cummings, 1976 May 3-1976 August 26.
Provenance:
The papers were donated to the Archives in 2009 by Mildred Constantine's daughters, Judith Bettelheim and Vicki McDaniel.
Restrictions:
Use of origininal material requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Curators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art consultants -- New York -- New York Search this
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
An interview of Joel Philip Myers conducted 2007 May 1, by Daniel Klein, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in the artist's home, in Marietta, Pennsylvania.
Myers speaks of his childhood in Patterson, New Jersey; making charcoal drawings as a child and taking private courses in oil painting; choosing to pursue a career in advertising design; attending Parsons School of Design in New York City; working as a package designer for Donald Deskey Associates; being influenced by Scandinavian design he saw in New York City to study abroad in Denmark; studying ceramic design at Kunsthaandvaerkerskolen in Copenhagen; meeting and marrying his wife, Birthe, while in Copenhagen; returning to the United States and going back to work for Donald Deskey; attending Alfred University and receiving his B.F.A. and M.F.A. in ceramics; accepting the position director of design for Blenko Glass Company in Milton, West Virginia with no previous experience in glass; teaching himself how to blow glass in the factory alongside the workers; the intense heat and extreme noise of a glass factory; learning of Harvey Littleton's glass workshop in 1962 in Toledo, Ohio, but being unable to attend; having limited exposure to the glass movement and developing his glass art without knowledge of the work of Littleton and his students; designing 50 to 60 different vases, bowls, decanters, and decorative objects a year from 1963 - 1970 at Blenko Glass Company; creating sculptural glass forms in his penetration pieces for his masters thesis; learning of what was happening in the studio glass world by attending the World Craft Council in 1964 in New York City; Paul Smith discovering his work and thereby gaining some publicity in Craft Horizons; being invited by Littleton to give a workshop at the University of California, Berkeley in 1968; the initial shock of seeing glass sculpture made with no real technique; his early attraction to cold-work in order to work intimately with the surface of the glass; acquisition of his work by the Toledo Art Museum and the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, North Carolina; establishing a glass program at Illinois University in Bloomington-Normal; his attempts to recruit international students; taking a semester sabbatical in Baden, Austria; being heavily influenced by the natural world; the series Garden, Perfume Bottle, Contiguous Fragment, Dr. Zharkov, The Dialogues, and others; teaching at Pilchuck School of Glass; studying the First World War and consequently creating Musée des Beaux Arts [1996]; travels to Japan; his teaching philosophies; the prevalence of independent glass studios in the world today; and plans for the future. Myers recalls Ted Randall, William H. Blenko, Sr., William H. Blenko, Jr., Marvin Lipofsky, Fritz Dreisbach, Richard Marquis, John Lewis, Bob Ness, Bertil Vallien, David Huchthausen, John Popelka, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Joel Philip Myers (1934- ) is a glass artist from Milton, West Virginia. Daniel Klein (1938- ) is an art consultant from London, England.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 15 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
An interview of June Schwarcz conducted 2001 January 21, by Arline M. Fisch, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Schwarcz's home and studio, Sausalito, California.
Schwarcz speaks of her family background; early interest in color and form; studies at Pratt Institute; working in as a package designer and free-lance designer for department stores such as Macy's in New York and Hochschild-Kohn in Baltimore; living in Chicago, Brazil, and Denver; learning about enamels from a group of "housewives" in Denver; reading Kenneth Bates's book [Enameling: Principles and Practice] "as if it were the Bible"; visiting America House and meeting Dominick Maillard; settling in Sausalito, California, in 1954; the comparison of natural erosion in streams and rocks to etched surfaces; sources of inspiration including fog, folk art, African art, ancient Chinese ceramics, the Japanese aesthetic, ethnic clothing and fabrics, pleats and folds, and works by Isamu Noguchi, Constantin Brancusi, Morris Louis, and Mark Rothko; the practice of working on several pieces at one time; the influence of two books, Santayana's "The Sense of Beauty" and Junichiro Tanizaki's "In Praise of Shadows;" her desire to "making things that are beautiful"; her husband's support and assistance with tools, materials, and techniques; the significance of various tools and equipment; developing forms through paper patterns; the body as vessel; color as "personality"; technical pitfalls of the enameling process; technical problems of electroplating; the 1974 World Craft Conference in which Stanley Letchzin presented his findings on electroforming; meeting Letchzin and comparing processes; the difficulties in selling work; the lack of an audience; teaching workshops at Arrowmont and Vail; aversion to teaching and commissions; relationships with Susan Cummins Gallery, Bellas Artes Gallery, Japonesque Gallery, De Vera Gallery, Sybaris Gallery, and Mobilia Gallery; travel to Europe and Japan; honors and awards; and interest in transparent enamels. Schwarcz also describes her use of basse taille, plique-à-jour, electroplating, electroforming, brush plating, raku, scotchbrite, and Mi-Tique (patina solutions). She also recalls development of each piece in her retrospective catalog, "June Schwarcz : forty years, forty pieces" (San Francisco Craft & Folk Art Museum, 1998) and concludes the interview by discussing five current pieces in progress.
Biographical / Historical:
June Schwarcz (1918-2015) was an enamaler from Sausalito, California. Arline M. Fisch (1931-) is a metalsmith from San Diego, California.
General:
Originally recorded as 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 7 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 36 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Mair, Francis M., 1916-1991 (commercial artist) Search this
Extent:
146 Cubic Feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Audiovisual materials
Business letters
Business records
Personal papers
Videotapes
Interviews
Oral history
Date:
circa 1930-1994
Scope and Contents:
Collection documents the career of designer Walter Landor and the significant body of commercial imagery and packaging produced by Landor Associates design firm. Contains corporate and business records of Landor Associates, personal papers of Landor, oral history interviews, films, videotapes, and other audiovisual resources.
Arrangement:
Subgroup 1: Landor Associates Business Records
Series 1: Historical Background and Project Administrations Files
Series 2: Newsletter, 1978-84
Series 3: Scrapbooks
Series 4: Memoranda, 1956-1979
Series 5: News stories and Newsclippings
Series.6: Corporate Subject files
Series 7: Walter Landor reading files
Series 8: New Brochure
Series 9: International files
Series I0: Promo files
Series I 1: Conventions and seminars
Series 12: Awards
Series 13: Tours, presentations, parties
Series 14: Communication films (a Landor subsidiary)
Series 15: Client files
Series 16: The Ferryboat Klamath and the Museum of Packaging Antiquities
Subgroup 2: Walter Landor Papers
Series 17: Papers
Series 18: Trip files
Series 19: Speeches
Series 20: Corporate reference
SUBGROUP 3: Photographic and Other Audiovisual Materials
Series 2 1: Photographs
Series 22: Slides
Series 23: Publications
Series 24: Videos
Series 25: Films
Series 26: Speeches/interviews/discussion sessions on audiocassette
Walter Landor, son of Jewish Bauhaus architect Fritz Landauer, came to the United States in 1938 with the design team for the British Pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City. He emigrated to the United States in 1941, launching a small design firm in San Francisco. Landor started out doing package design for a largely local and regional clientele (including many West Coast wineries and breweries), although he soon developed a client list that included some of the world's largest and most prestigious corporations. In addition to his own considerable design abilities, Landor had a gift for inspiring and organizing the creativity of a group of associates, and for developing lasting and productive relationships with his clients. The firm developed particular strength in its portfolio of airlines, financial institutions and consumer goods, and prided itself on a network of international clients. From the beginning, Landor linked design to research in consumer behavior, developing increasingly sophisticated methods for evaluating the effectiveness of his designs. This collection documents Walter Landor's remarkable career, the significant body of corporate identity, packaging and other commercial imagery produced by Landor Associates, and the interplay between industrial design and American consumer culture.
Provenance:
Personal papers donated to Archives Center in 1993 by Josephine Landor, widow of Walter Landor; business records donated to Archives Center in 1993 by Landor Associates.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
The Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions.,Reproduction permission from Archives Center: fees for commercial use.
This collection is the result of a year-long study of Campbell's "Red and White" Soups advertising and marketing, supported in part by a grant from the Campbell Soup Company. Thirty-one oral history interviews were conducted by Dr. Barbara Griffith for the project, and a variety of related materials were gathered by the Center for Advertising History staff. The objective of the project was to create a collection that provides documentation, in print and media, of the history and development of advertising for Campbell's Red and White Soups in the decades following World War II.
Scope and Contents:
This collection is the result of a year-long study of Campbell's "Red and White" Soups advertising and marketing campaigns. Oral histories conducted by Smithsonian Institution staff with individuals involved with the Campbell's Soup Corporation and its advertising campaigns form the core of the collection. Also included are clippings and background research files, abstracts of the oral history interviews, television and radio commercials, company publications, and promotional items and packaging.
A 2015 addition to the collection was born digital and consists of materials from the groundbreaking "Real Life Campaign" which featured inter-racial couples as well as a gay couple. These materials include storyboards, scripts, consumer feedback both postive and negative, focus group material, labels, commercials, supporting documentation on the development and implementation of the campaign. These materials are available in the Smithsonian Institution DIgital Asset Management System (DAMS).
Arrangement:
Collection is organized into nine series.
Series 1, Research Files, 1939-1989
Series 2, Interviewee Files, 1989-1990
Series 3, Oral Histories, 1989-1990
Series 4, Television Commercials, 1957-1990
Series 5, Radio Commercials, 1966-1975
Series 6, Print Advertisements, 1905-1989
Series 7, Promotional Items and Packaging, 1968-1991
Series 8, Company Publications, 1983-1988
Series 9, Real Life Campaign, 2015
Biographical / Historical:
The Campbell Soup Company's "Red and White" advertising campaigns are remarkable not only for their longevity, but for the consistency of the advertising message. Since 1898, when the red and white label was incorporated, the packaging and the message have changed only marginally. When Andy Warhol painted his pop art Campbell Soup cans in the early 1960s, he presented an immediately recognizable image with which all of America could identify.
Campbell's condensed soups, first marketed in 1897, have become a staple of the 20th century American household. The Joseph Campbell Preserve Company, a canning concern which grew out of an 1869 business partnership between a fruit merchant and an ice box manufacturer, was well established by the time Arthur Dorrance succeeded Joseph Campbell as president. When Dorrance's nephew, John T. Dorrance, a chemical engineer and organic chemist trained at MIT, developed a process for making condensed soup, the company was faced with the task of successfully marketing the revolutionary new convenience food. The soup won a gold medallion for excellence at the 1900 Paris Exposition, and the company incorporated the image on its labels and in its advertising.
In the developing consumer culture which began to grow during and after the industrial revolution, women were identified as the primary consumers of household goods and services. Homemakers have been the target of Campbell' s Red & White advertising since its inception, and this focus is reflected both in the content and the placement of the advertising. The identification of a predominately female consumer market was also influential in the creation of a widely recognized and long-lived symbol, the Campbell Kids, created in 1904 by Grace Gebbie Drayton. The Kids were meant to convey a sense of wholesomeness and physical well-being associated with eating Campbell Soups.
The advertising of the early teens and twenties most often consisted of black and white or two-color depictions of the can and the product, often accompanied by images of the rosy-cheeked Kids. A large portion of the ad was devoted to narrative description of the soups' healthful properties, suggesting that"Campbell Soups Give Vigor and Strength", "I Couldn't Keep House Without Campbell's Tomato Soup", and "If Every Woman Realized How Much Her Husband Likes Soup - She Would Serve It Everyday".
The advertising of the 1930s tended towards idealized illustrations of women and children; the Kids were less visible during the 1930s and 1940s, deemed too "chucklesome" for the Depression years, and too old-fashioned
during World War II. Ad copy continued its appeal to women's sense of responsibility for the well-being of husbands and children, with slogans suggesting "It Takes a Bright and Sparkling Flavor to Attract Children", "When a Man Says It's Good, It's Good", and "Wouldn 't I Be Silly to make It Myself?"
Campbell broadened the scope of its advertising by sponsoring radio programming, beginning in 1931 with the "Hollywood Hotel" program on CBS. Later radio sponsorships included the George Burns and Gracie Allen show, "Campbell Playhouse", "Amos and Andy", the "Jack Carson Show", "Hildegarde", and "Edward R. Murrow with the News", among others . The jingle "M'm M'm Good" was first aired during the radio broadcasts of this period, and was reinforced in the print advertising. Beginning in 1950, Campbell began to sponsor television shows, continuing its focus on women and children as primary purchasers and consumers of suop. Most notable among these sponsorships were "The Donna Reed Show" and "Lassie" . Print ads of the 1950s featuring Johnny Carson, Donna Reed, and the cast of the Lassie Show helped to reinforce the Company's sponsorship of these popular shows.
In 1954, Campbell moved its $10 million dollar condensed soup account from Ward Wheelock Company, the Philadelphia firm which had handled the account since 1910, to Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BBDO) of New York. By 1966, BBDO account executives urged "selective but not major" use of the Kids and the slogan "M'm M'm Good", choosing instead to employ advertising that stressed health claims and fitness issues rather than the wholesome, comforting associations of hot soup. The Kids became more athletic and less rotund.
Reflecting changes in American social and family structures Campbell' s advertising, began to depict the working wife and the busy schedules of a family "on the go". A 1960 ad declares "Good Things Begin to Happen When Working Girls Have Soup and Crackers" or "Somethings Happened to Supper". In light of the women 's movement, which was gaining momentum during this period, Campbell advertising remained decidedly traditional. In the 1970s, "Give Me the Campbell Life" recognized women 's expanded roles as working mothers, but "They Always Eat Better When You Remember the Soup" and "Get Your Campbells Worth" reveal a more conservative pitch to homemakers responsibilities. Other societal changes are suggested in the advertising, for instance, the "Soup is Good Food" and "Health Insurance" campaigns of the 1980s reflected a new emphasis on health and fitness.
In 1981 the company transferred the soup account to another New York firm, Backer Spielvogel and Bates . The 1980s saw a renewed emphasis on network primetime, strategic radio advertising (where ads for hot soup are tagged to reports of rain or snow, or are aired just before the noon lunch hour), and regional marketing of specialized products or packaging designed to appeal to local tastes and changing nutritional standards. These new products have engendered some changes in Campbell' s time-honored red and white label to emphasize the "new and improved" characteristics of the products
In 2015, Campbells developed the "Real Life" campaign. This campaign was groundbreaking in many ways. The commercials portrayed not only inter-racial couples but also a gay couple, two fathers and their son. This campaign had a product tie in with the 2015 release of the new installment in the motion picture franchise, Star Wars. The campaign received commentary from the public both pro and con. Campbells continued the campaign without revising or pulling any of its commercials. While running in selected markets, the campaign made nationwide headlines and pointed up the continuing change in the make-up of the American family.
Provenance:
Paul N. Mulcahy, V.P. Marketing Services, Campbell Soup Company,1990. Made for the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution by the Center for Advertising History, 1989-1990.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Original artwork and final prints of wine labels, files on work for other clients, plus audio tapes of an interview of Farrell.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of eight series, the largest, Series I, being the wine labels. This series is arranged alphabetically by the name of the producer and each winery is in a separate folder. At times the name of the wine is different than the name of the producer and sometimes the winery produces wines under more than one name. If there is more than one name or if the name of the wine is different than the name of the producer, these other names are listed in parentheses following the name of the winery. Often the name of the winery changes, usually in minor way such as changing the designation from cellars or winery to vineyards or some combination of these terms. To the extent possible, the latest name is used. All wines produced by each winery are in the same folder. The labels consist of various preliminary drawings, more refined drawings and presentations, mounted presentations and printed labels and loose printed labels. Some or all of these types may be available for each winery. In some cases there is no indication whether or not Colonna, Farrell received the commission to create the final designs, as the only way we have of knowing that is if the final printed label is in the collection.
Series II consists of designs for various presentations to The Monterey Vineyard. The first folder contains drawings and some design mockups. The remaining four folders of the series each contains a special presentation of mounted designs. Series III is a set of handmade containers containing designs created by the firm. These special cases were carried by John Farrell and Ralph Colonna when they visited wineries to make a presentation in an attempt to obtain new business.
Series IV consists of one folder containing ideas for labels that cannot be attributed to any particular winery and older labels that were collected for inspiration. Series V is a folder containing work for clients not in the wine business. Series VI contains company information such as letterhead, a brochure and an article. Series VII is miscellaneous material and Series VIII is an interview of John Farrell conducted by John Fleckner and Spencer Crew of the National Museum of American History on April 17, 1997. There are two sets of tapes, an original and a duplicate, and only the duplicate is to be used by researchers.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into eight series.
Biography:
John Farrell was born on Long Island, New York in 1944 and grew up in Minneapolis/St. Paul where his family had moved in early 1945. He had an early interest in art and design and started doing commercial design work while still in high school and continued to support himself as a designer in college. He attended the University of Minnesota. from 1962 through 1964 when he transferred to California State University-Hayward, from which he graduated after majoring in Art/Design. After college he moved to Denver to take a design position and then, in 1971, started a business there. In 1972 he did graduate work in design at Denver University, but did not receive a degree. Mr. Farrell wanted to return to California and in 1974 he followed his dream, settling in the Napa Valley.
Mr. Farrell started working out of his home, visiting local printers to find out who was working with them. When the printers told him "the wineries" he started talking to wine people. He said that he found a real need in Napa to put together packaging and help what were then local farming people with small businesses. Because of his skills, he was able to offer his clients a complete package, from the start of the design process to the finish.
Ralph Colonna was also born on the East Coast, in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania in 1937. His family moved to California in 1944 when his father was transferred there and he grew up in the Upland, Ontario area of the Los Angeles Basin. He majored in advertising and graphic design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California in 1957-58, but did not graduate. From 1958 to 1961 Mr. Colonna worked for a number of design firms, until he started his own firm in Westwood in 1961. The firm moved a number of times as it grew to its maximum size of forty people. He sold the studio in 1971 and moved to the Napa Valley where he opened a gourmet cookware store, which still exists, at "Vintage 1870", an old warehouse and winery, in Yountville. While he had the store, Mr. Colonna did some graphics work for other stores in the area. The store was sold in 1978 so he could concentrate on the design business that he had started with Mr. Farrell.
John Farrell and Ralph Colonna met in 1974 and John Farrell showed his work to Ralph Colonna, who liked the work. In 1975 Mr. Colonna said he had been asked to make a presentation for a package design system to Domaine Chandon, which was just being built. Mr. Colonna and Mr. Farrell collaborated on the presentation, but did not get the job. However they enjoyed working together and decided to work together on some other projects though they kept their businesses independent.
History:
Messrs. Farrell and Colonna started to share work space and costs in 1975 and in 1976 decided to go into business in St. Helena together. In those early days, it was easy to set up a design shop and Mr. Farrell likes to say that it could be done for less than $100, as all that was needed was a T square and a drawing board.
Jeffery Caldewey had an office in the same building and was also doing early label design. In 1976 they all decided to join forces to avoid useless competition. Initially the company was a partnership called Colonna, Caldewey, Farrell: Designers. When Mr. Caldewey left the company in 1982 and went out on his own, the name of the business was changed to Colonna, Farrell: Design, the name under which it operated until October, 1999 when the name was changed to CF.NAPA. The business was incorporated in California in 1981 under the name of Design Research Institute Inc. As the company grew, it moved several times in St.Helena and in October, 1999 it moved to Napa after merging with LA6A, which also has offices in Cincinnati, Chicago and New York.
Once Messrs. Colonna and Farrell established themselves as credible package designers, many area wineries wanted to get to know them and their company. The company put together presentations and the principals went to various wineries to promote themselves. In effect they were salesmen as well as designers, but it enabled them to build relationships with various well known wineries such as Beringer, Mondavi, and Sutter Home, even though they might not be the sole supplier of design.
The wine business, however, began to change. New owners came in, many of whom had not been in the wine business before but had been doctors, brokers, etc. They were often looking for a life style change more than they were trying to make a lot of money. The idea was to live in a beautiful place and have a small business. Colonna, Farrell worked with these new people and they became a large part of the company's business.
The early Colonna Farrell designs parroted what was being done in French labeling at the time. This was a traditional look and helped establish credibility. But this changed for a number of reasons: the wineries wanted to look different from each other and Colonna, Farrell: Design didn't want to be identified with any particular "look". This led the company to establish relationships with various designers, illustrators, photographers and artists in general, in order to make its product designs more unique, a practice that continues to this day, though most of the design work is created by employees of the company.
After a while, many of the larger wineries began to be acquired by companies that were not from the Napa Valley. Often these were large conglomerates or distilleries such as Hiram Walker and Seagrams and the wineries were only a small portion of their business. This changed the complexion of many established wineries.
It also changed the way Colonna, Farrell did business, as the headquarters of the parent companies often were not in the Napa Valley. Messrs. Farrell and Colonna felt they had to pursue business where the headquarters were. This meant traveling to meet the decision makers and impress them with the company's range of services. It also led to new types of work for the company, though the focus was still in beverages. Most importantly, it meant that the principals did less and less design work and more and more sales and marketing and administration. But it also led to creating a business that was not totally dependent on the principals.
At the same time the nature of design work was changing. When the company was started, most of the work was done by hand, but today computers play a much larger role in the design process. A similar pivotal change was occurring in the printing industry as new technology allowed labels to change from simple rectangular shapes to die cuts, embossing, foil stamps, and other fanciful and complex techniques.
The company is now also involved in packaging design so that every facet of the identity of the winery is controlled. This includes, in addition to the labels, packaging, bottle shape, shipper cartons, gift packs, and promotional materials. The company also has the capability of dealing with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and comparable regulators overseas. The business is still evolving and is now going beyond design into marketing and Colonna, Farrell, as a leader in the industry, is also evolving.
Related Materials:
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, ca. 1724-1977 (Subject Category: Wine)
Provenance:
This collection was donated to the National Museum of American History, Archives Center on November 17, 1997 by John Farrell and Ralph Colonna, the principals of CF.NAPA, previously know as Colonna, Farrell: Design.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
