Every poster has a lineage
Each tradition below gets a wall label: when it flourished, how it looked, what our studio keeps from it, and what it never copies. The last line matters most. A tradition belongs to everyone; a company’s name or a living artist’s hand does not.
Golden-Age Airline
Flat gouache colour, a low sun, and the place cut into a few bold shapes, as if seen from the window on the way down.
What we never copy: No airline name, wordmark, livery or aircraft maker. No hand of a poster artist still in copyright. The plane, if there is one, belongs to nobody.
Ocean Liner Deco
A hull drawn as a monument, airbrushed steel, and a horizon ruled with a straight edge.
What we never copy: No shipping line’s name, flag or funnel colours, and nothing traced from a known poster. Every ship is invented.
National Park Screenprint
Five flat inks, a big sky and one landmark, printed the way the New Deal park posters were.
What we never copy: No agency seal, park emblem or badge, and no copy of a surviving original print.
Swiss Resort
Alpine light, photographic depth and blue shadows on bright snow.
What we never copy: No resort, railway or ski maker’s mark, and no named poster artist’s hand.
Interwar Metro
Modernist planes and a strong diagonal, made to be read across a platform.
What we never copy: No transit roundel, line map, system name or station sign.
Belle Époque Lithograph
Crayon on stone, flowing outlines and a figure in her best at the turn of the century.
What we never copy: No product, café or theatre name, no copy of a known poster, and no figure modelled on a real person.
Riviera Railway
Pines, parasols and sea at the end of a long line of track.
What we never copy: No railway company’s name, monogram or route map, and no named poster artist’s hand.
Shin-Hanga Woodblock
Woodblock light: soft gradations, rain, lanterns and the evening glow.
What we never copy: No publisher’s seal, no artist’s cartouche or signature, and no characters in any script.
Mid-Century Illustration
Loose shapes, colour that slips past its outline, and a skyline in a good mood.
What we never copy: No signature, and no copy of a known picture book or travel series.
1980s Airbrush
Chrome sunsets, palm shadows and gradients you could swim in.
What we never copy: No record-sleeve copy, no living illustrator’s pools and palms, no logos on cars or towels.
1990s Screenprint
Gig-poster ink, halftone and a grainy, generous palette.
What we never copy: No band, venue or brand name, and no copy of a known gig poster.
2000s Vector
Clean vector planes, glossy highlights and a city drawn as icons.
What we never copy: No app icons, no logos, no stock icon sets.
Woodcut and Linocut
Carved line and two or three inks on warm paper.
What we never copy: No carver’s monogram or signature, and nothing traced from a known print.
Risograph
Two spot colours, slight misregistration and soft grain.
What we never copy: No zine masthead, no logos, no lettering in the picture.
