Leather and Paper Items, 2015

CALDER FOUNDATION

Postalco is pleased to present a new collection of stationery and leather items inspired by the work of the artist Alexander Calder and developed in close collaboration with the Calder Foundation. The 15-piece collection includes a goatskin and pressed-cotton fabric Travel Wallet, Cardholder, and Tool Box printed with Calder-designed graphic icons from 1965–66. A Snap Pad, featuring a drawing circa 1953, encourages each user to embrace his or her creativity.

 In keeping with their namesake, Postalco has chosen to feature an assembly drawing of Calder’s 1946 The S-Shaped Vine on the cover of a notebook. Intrigued by the limitations on parcel size imposed by the U.S. Postal Service, Calder created this large-scale mobile on the occasion of his premiere postwar exhibition in Paris at Galerie Louis Carré as a collapsible work that could be reassembled onsite according to the specifications in the drawing. The notebook’s pages are interspersed with historic photographs by famed Swiss graphic designer and photographer Herbert Matter, along with drawings and textile designs by Calder, and writings both by and about the artist. Each product’s colorway, produced with traditional Japanese craftsmanship, has been carefully selected from those found in the artist’s work. Postalco approaches each collaboration with an extensive amount of research. After a visit to the Calder Foundation archives in New York, which contains more than 26,000 historic photographs, dozens of films, and over 130,000 documents covering all aspects of the artist’s life, Postalco discovered the artist’s lesser-known works, including jewelry, textiles, and domestic objects. Inspired by the way Calder erased boundaries between established genres, the resulting collection offers a unique glimpse into the prolific life of one of the most important artists of the twentieth century.