Who she was, and whether she was led astray that night, are lost to history, but I hope she was celebrating New Year’s in the way she thought best. Happy New Year, everyone.

Mixed-concept mug for friends of owls who only want half a cup of coffee, and who don’t mind if their faux-wood-handled Canadiana is made in Japan.

The writer Douglas Coupland (“Generation X”), who has been interested in Canadiana for a long time, recently went about finding a classic 70s “builder’s special” house slated for demolition, filled it with objects constructed from the Canadian paraphernalia of his childhood, and then staged a party in it. He called the sprawling art installation “Canada House” and its eccentrically decorated rooms contained numerous sculptures assembled from items that only Canadians would really fully understand. Coupland’s Canadiana is not really the hunting lodge/maple syrup Canadiana of the East, but a specifically West Coast version referencing the ocean and all other things British Columbian. It’s a lesser known fact that Coupland had a career as an artist before he became a writer, graduating from the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver where he grew up. Coupland’s interest in Canadiana, a lot of it quite odd, first appeared in his two books “Souvenir  of Canada.” The book and his “Canada House” installation spawned a recent film called Souvenir of Canada in which the entire process described above is documented. It’s a strange combination of dispassionate irony and deeply personal nostalgia. An interesting CBC review is here. These fantastic photos were shot by well-known Vancouver photographer Martin Tessler who has also shot covers for Metropolitan Home and many other shelter magazines. Photos, in order: fishing float lamps; whale vertebrae made from styrofoam jetsam; mussel shell midden; Haida button blanket.

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Only 32 years have passed since this fantastic official poster for the 1976 Montreal Olympics was produced, but from a 2008 vantage point it’s hard to imagine how a committee ever okayed it. Whoever they were, they were in Montreal, it was 1976, and they were probably wearing something groovy. See here. With the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics coming up and with the athletes’ village not that far away from our Chinatown studio, it’s getting hard to ignore the sad new state of official Olympic design. The phrase “corporate clip art” comes to mind with every new design the Vancouver Olympic committee puts out, and that seems to be an Olympic trend. Some of it looks distinctly like it might be selling feminine hygiene products. The 60s and 70s design – graphic as well as interior and architectural – seems more fearless, open, uncluttered and somehow international in its outlook, and the Montreal designs had all of these virtues. It’s just inconceivable to imagine the bold, edgy yet friendly poster above being sanctioned by any Olympic Committee in these newly staid, conservative times. And forget about edginess. Vancouver won’t even be getting just good, basic graphic design let alone anything as deft and good-looking as the instant classics that Montreal managed to produce – see below. Also see the Canadian Design Resource on the topic of what has happened to Olympic design in general. I particularly like the fact that in 1976 the Canadian government issued well-designed official Olympic posters showcasing then-cutting-edge contemporary art (bottom right). Can you imagine that happening now? My favourite of the 1976 posters below, though, is the wavy white Olympic logo on red. Beautiful and simple – and so is the beaver “Amik” mascot. Nostalgia may be a weakness, but if design were better who would need to indulge in it.

More here and here.

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