FROM THE RESERVE LIBRARY: THE HOUSE THAT ANDY AND RICH BUILT
If you've never seen the work of House Industries, well you have. They have collaborated with Tellason, the Estate of Charles and Ray Eames, The Henry Ford Museum, and John Mayer to name a few. What started as two guys creating fonts has become a design power House in the past 25 years. Their work ranges from rock n roll to hot rods, from designing signage to creating unusual products. The firm reverbs between an analog and digital creative approach to its works and is constantly retooling the old ways of design into a more contemporary style.
House linked up with the Austin Speed Shop during the Lonestar Round Up car show in Austin, Texas to showcase a 1932 Ford coupe that Andy's dad was restoring in 2010. The team broke out paint brushes to create detailed illustrations for posters and flyers and designed T-shirts for the event packaged in one-quart paint cans. When Jimmy Kimmel needed a logo for his late night talk show he personally called House Industries to ask if they would consider designing it for him. Kimmel, (a fellow type nerd who once aspired to be a graphic designer) would send pictures of signs he saw in old movies as inspiration. They took this, along with Jimmy's Las Vegas and California upbringing, into the production process to fully convey the vibe for his show. The team over at House realizes the form and appearance of a word are just as important as its definition, and are using their design chops to communicate on an entirely new level.
In 1997 when one of Andy's design heroes, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth of Roth Studios, asked to visit House Industries for a week between car shows he jumped at the chance to learn process and production from a guy he idolized. Towards the end of the trip, Big Daddy imparted some wisdom that would shape the direction of House Industries' future: "you don't own anything until you give it away". House's creativity (any creativity) cannot be fully appreciated unless it is shared.
They then set out to answer the question "where does inspiration come from?". What they landed on was simple in thought but required more in explanation. Their book "House: The process is the inspiration" is distinctly designed with pages of past works and case studies that illustrate how bringing your hobbies and curiosities into something can produce successful and satisfying work. Stop by the shop to thumb through a copy. A creative in any field will find something essential in this study of inspiration.