How American Consumers Embraced Color
Vivid hues in everyday products became eye-popping reality in the early twentieth century.
Fall in Love with Fabric Samples
Donald Brothers was a storied Scottish firm that produced amazing fabric designs. Feast your eyes on a selection today.
Album Cover Artwork Was Super Boring before Alex Steinweiss
Inspired by the Bauhaus and WPA posters, the midcentury designer all but invented the modern record-album cover.
Polish Posters in the RISD Library Collection
Posters are part of a tradition of object-based learning at the Rhode Island School of Design.
The Timeless Art of the Bookcase Flex
Flaunting a massive collection of books did not start with work-from-home videoconferences.
The Revolutionary Past of Plastics
When plastics were first invented, they seemed to promise a utopian future.
![Design 513, Damask, 1956 and Design 104, Printed Silk and Fortisan Casement [curtain fabric], 1955, by Frank Lloyd Wright](https://daily.jstor.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/frank_lloyd_wrights_fraught_attempt_at_mass_production_1050x700-600x400.jpg)
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fraught Attempt at Mass Production
The famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright famously loathed commercialism, and yet he (reluctantly) designed commercial homewares to be mass-produced.
How WWI Made the Zipper a Success
A money belt with a zipper became an instant success among WWI U.S. sailors, whose uniforms did not have pockets. Almost all initial zipper sales were for the money belts.
Are You Wearing Seaweed?
Are you wearing seaweed? People have been for hundreds of years, in sizing, patterns and fibers, although they might not have known it.
The Birth of Planned Obsolescence
Before WWII, American businesses began embracing “creative waste”—the idea that throwing things away and buying new ones could fuel a strong economy.