judges’ picks >> terry marks

3. STUDIO BLUE
Early American ironwork conjures up thoughts of thankless jobs: fire poking, candle snuffing, boot scraping. With such workhorse associations, it’s understandable that contemporary Americans would overlook the imagination with which ancestral ironworkers approached these utilitarian objects. But Studio Blue’s design of Iron At Winterthur, a 428-page book featuring the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum’s expansive iron collection from the 17th to 19th centuries, brings the rough beauty of these artifacts—often graced with surprisingly fine detail—to the surface. Lovingly handled black-and-white photography highlights the artistry of these utilitarian pieces—from coal scuttles to tobacco boxes—each of which paints a rich picture of life as lived in early America.

“The more I looked through it,” says judge Terry Marks of tmarks design, who was initially drawn to the book by its cover, which features the rooster of a mid-19th century weather vane, “the more apparent it became that the design is not only profiling but elevating this collection of American ironwork. Let’s face it, ironwork is not on my top 10 list of things to Google, but this is so beautiful.” Marks’ comments echo the objectives that Donald L. Fennimore, curator of metals at the Winterthur Museum, brought to the project.

“Ironwork is not typically esteemed the way precious metals are,” says Cheryl Towler Weese, partner of Chicago’s Studio Blue, with Kathy Fredrickson. “Don wanted to give iron the prominent position that bronze and gold hold among decorative art connoisseurs. He wanted this book to put ironwork on the map, aesthetically speaking.”

To put iron on a pedestal usually reserved for gold or silver is no small achievement, but Studio Blue’s full-bleed, black divider pages—whose text shifts between delicate italics and screaming bold caps—add another dimension to the topic. “These are artistic objects,” reads one page, “which is to say that their makers intended them to be more than merely utilitarian.”

Gently spoofing the endearingly naive style of 19th century broadsides that would have sold these wares, the designers at Studio Blue have done the seemingly impossible: They have brought a glint of humor to the clunky world of trivets and dripping pans.
Tiffany Meyers

Studio Blue
CREATIVE DIRECTORS: Kathy Fredrickson, Cheryl Towler Weese
DESIGNERS: Towler Weese, Tammy Baird, Maia Wright
COPYWRITER: Donald L. Fennimore
PHOTOGRAPHERS: George J. Fistrovich, Laszlo Bodo
CLIENT: Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
CONTACT: www.studioblueinc.com