House hunting
James Alexander (Chair, 2010) is on the trail of of a piece of work designed for the Society by Gordon House
The chances are you've not heard of Gordon House (1932-2004).
He’s not in the ‘Who’s Who of Art’, although his work is in the collections of Tate, MoMA, V&A, British Council, the British Government and many more. He’s not in any D&AD annual, or pretty much any other design book you care to name, even though he was a practising designer for six decades.
He worked with an array of well-known artists, many of whom were friends: Peter Blake, Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Smith, Richard Hamilton, The Beatles, Paul McCartney, Ian Dury. And worked for galleries including Kasmin, Marlborough, Waddington, D’Offay, ICA, Royal Academy - the list is goes on.
He was many things: ‘artist’, ‘graphic designer’, ‘fine art printing pioneer’, ‘feature of the 60s art scene’ – but ‘widely-known’ was not one of them.
I thought it was about time this changed.
So, with the approval of his family, I set up an Instagram feed to cover his work and career. It can be found at instagram.com/gordonhouse_assemblage.
What has this got to do with the Society you ask?
I recently discovered that he designed a leaflet (possibly a keepsake) for us in February 1972. It was printed by The Hillingdon Press, and in some manner featured a drawing of a micrometer. I’m asking for your help to track a copy down. Matt McKenzie has scoured our archive and can’t locate one. St Brides has nothing listed, nor do AbeBooks or ebay.
Do you have a copy? Can send me some pictures of it, or could I borrow it?
Thank you in anticipation – James Alexander
james@jadedesign.co.uk
Read more about Gordon House’s design work in this AIGA article, and this piece from Goldmark Art.