Holiday 2022 Collection Mood Board
Holiday 2022 Collection Mood Board
Inspired by Mid-Century holiday décor and the Atomic Age.
Whether you are well versed in art styles from past decades or not, chances are you know what a “mid-century holiday” aesthetic means. Full of jewel tones (especially pinks and blues), cute and jolly characters - often paired with bold graphic shapes, and lots of tinsel on the tree. The United States experienced a huge growth in the economy post World War II, which meant the was more money for the average household to spend with the broadening of the middle class - which definitely showed in the over the top holiday and party decorations of the time.
“The economy thrived after World War II in large part because America made it easier for people who had been previously shut out of economic opportunity — women, minority groups, immigrants — to enter the work force and climb the economic ladder, to make better use of their talents and potential.”
Vector Art
I have always has an obsession with mid-century style - whether in design, furniture, or art history styles. Being an artist that mainly focuses in vector art, many elements from the retro graphics can easily be modernized and kept true to the same style. Vector art was invented in 1963 by Ivan Sutherland, so it’s not surprising that the graphics from nearly 60 years ago could also pass for new graphics today.
Sutherland created a program for vector art called “Sketchpad” at MIT which used mathematic formulas or “vectors graphics” to form shapes in the program (instead of colorized, individual pixels). The idea of vector graphics had been used for about a decade in early computers but the machines lacked the memory to keep graphics stored for very long. Early computers continued to use vector graphics, including many arcade games of the 1960’s and 1970’s, until the 1980’s when the industry moved to raster (pixel-based) graphics.
The Atomic Age
The Atomic Age or Era is classified as the mid to late 1940’s (aka after World War II) to the early 1960’s. A lot of what makes mid-century look mid-century are elements from the atomic era of design. During this time a couple things influenced the period - for starters the name “atomic” does come from the atomic bomb which obviously helped to end World War II. As people grew more concerned about nuclear war and fallout, this bled into art styles of the time. Starbursts, atoms, and futuristic motifs were very common in every thing from toys to wallpaper to furniture design.
Secondly, during this time, the whole world had their sights looking up to the stars - The Space Race. Every country was trying to be the first in space & the first to the moon. Because of this, designs that were space-inspired became very popular, in addition to pop culture also embracing outer space themes. A great example that’s still well known today is the cartoon show The Jetson’s (which aired originally in the early 60’s).
Holiday 2022 Mood & Inspiration Board:
Below are some of the pieces that inspired this year’s holiday collection:
Stay tuned for the launch of the 2022 Holiday Collection.