I just saw these illustrations by Nate Luetkehans on Design Work Life. I’m really into the detailed linework set against the bold colours. Nice work!

Great work by Seattle-based Matthew Hollister, whose work has been featured in Fortune and the Boston Globe, to name but a couple. 

My sister Kat went to Saskatchewan and bought me a 1974 Acme catalogue, which was a mail-order operation serving pre-Internet Western Canada. Therein are surprisingly many products familiar to me: I wonder if this is an all-Canadian experience or maybe my parents just registered at Acme for their wedding gift registry. From the Woods tents, Coleman stove and plastic juice cooler, and orange GE electric lawnmower to the country charm wooden spice rack and Osterizer blender, it was like walking through my childhood home.

What stood out to me most, however, was the selection of outdoor chairs. Since a time when we would have been too young to have caught the mid-century revival, Kat and I have shared an inexplicable affinity for the Solaire patio chair (the round colander-like thing on wire legs). It likely has something to do with all the motels our family has stayed in throughout our many North American road trips. It turns out to be a Canadian design classic, wrought from the spirit of Expo ’64. In 1974, these chairs cost $10.47; today, $130 at Vancouver Special.

In addition to the Solaire chairs, the aluminum and polypropylene lawnchairs are a real hit right now. I’m in the process (a very slow one) of restoring an old chair and actually just purchased some of the old polypropylene webbing on eBay. While hunting, I discovered how very coveted and rare and coveted this classic is today: For only $85 you can own your very own vintage triple fold style chaise lounge.

(bottom photo credit: http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/06/canadian-cool-solair-chair/)