I’ve long loved the vintage femininity of mid-century European fashion. The silhouettes, the careful accessorizing, and most importantly, the thousand-yard glare beaming from a heavily-lined eye have always been an inspiration to me. An old friend of mine peddles these gorgeous pieces most weekends at the Brooklyn Flea, and one weekend, she brought a stack of these Italian Fashion magazines from the 50s. This one, Eva, is from 1951 and features a scripty lettering that perfectly matches the clothing’s aesthetic: custom, curvy, sharp and stabby at just the right points.

The cover features a few different lettering styles, but what mostly grabbed my attention was the script. It’s used throughout the issue, and creates a nice ‘voice’ for many of the headlines.

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After graduating from the MA in Typeface Design at the University of Reading, I decided to buy myself a present: all the seven issues of Pagina.

Pagina is an international graphic design magazine, published from 1962 until 1966 in Milan by Editoriale Metro S.p.A, with quarterly (but very irregular) releases. Each of the seven issues was published in Italian, French and English, the layout was designed by Heinz Will while the covers were handled by different designers. The articles inside the magazine included authors such as Leo Lionni, Armando Testa, Bruno Munari, Saul Bass and Albe Steiner (just to mention a few).

The first three issues of Pagina (November 1962, June 1963, October 1963).
The cover for the second issue was designed by Bob Noorda and for the third issue by Pino Tovaglia.

Pagina 4, 6 and 7 (January 1964, January 1965, April 1966). Pagina 6 is a special issue entirely dedicated to Italy. and Pagina 7 is dedicated to Giambattista Bodoni. The covers are respectively by Max Bill, who also designed the typeface on the cover, Giancarlo Iliprandi, and Franco Maria Ricci.

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I have loved the crackling and whispering of the wrapping papers of oranges since my childhood in the sixties. This is also the reason why I am not a professional collector of these papers. I want to hold them in my hands, not only to look at the broad variety of graphic treasures, but also to listen to them.

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Valentine’s Day. The day of love, lust, and crushes. Maybe the first time you saw the object of your affection was across a room, at a party or a bar or on the street. Your heartbeat quickened, your palms began to get slippery, your mouth went dry … because you were in the presence of something that spoke to you, that you felt a chemical connection with, something that made you feel understood and less alone in the world. Well, that’s how I feel when I find a piece of beautiful printed type.

When you visit a flea market, there is great furniture, handmade wares, and delicious street food … and then there are the antique booths. If you’re anything like me, the paper ephemera portion of these booths create the same effect as if I was to see David Beckham across the room. Once upon a time, when I lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, I visited the Brooklyn Flea just to encounter such a corner of such a booth. I can’t remember exactly how the conversation began as my memory isn’t what it used to be, but I ended up in a deep conversation with the owner of the booth about some copies of Avant Garde magazine she had for sale.

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