Minwax and parent Sherwin Williams have shuttered the beloved Homer Formby furniture refinishing brand. With the closing, a whole approach to conserving furniture has disappeared. An online search for the brand, eponymously named by America’s most famous furniture fixer, refers customers to a defunct web page for the Sherwin WilliamsMORE HERE
This week, John Kelly of The Washington Post reminisced about the clear Nescafe globe mug, famous from 1970s commercials. Kelly was kind enough to mention a column on General Foods International Coffee, which is still sold as Maxwell House International Coffee. One of Kelly’s readers, in a comment, mentioned theMORE HERE
CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Chemex drip coffee maker, that perfect symbol of 20th century product design, celebrates its 80th anniversary this year. The coffeemaker, created in 1941, is still made in the U.S., by a family owned company. The product is deceptively simple, namely an X-shaped beaker. The beaker hasMORE HERE
“Buy only the best pencils. The others are a snare, a delusion and utterly useless.” -Eberhard Faber II The book Quintessence, published in 1983, profiled a series of American products that were perfect, and could not be improved. One of those brands, along with Coca-Cola, Slinky, Oreo and the CartierMORE HERE
The year 1959 was the 100th anniversary of A&P, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. Eisenhower was president. America was atop the world, as was A&P, which at that time was the largest grocery chain in the world. The company, never looking back except to evoke its own greatness,MORE HERE
QUINCY, Ill. – One of the best known, but forgotten, kitchen cleaners of the 20th century is Bab-O. Today, the brand is a trademark and product of, and a perfect complement to, the cleaning products of the family owned Fitzpatrick Brothers of Quincy, Illinois. Their operating manifesto? A business withMORE HERE
ATLANTA – One of the happier trademarks in the U.S. is Mod Podge, the decoupage coating. Georgia entrepreneuse and interior designer Jan Wetstone, whose Buckhead shop Jan’s Interiors is shown as the original owner of the brand, invented the Mod-Podge in 1965. Note that it was first trademarked with aMORE HERE
BROOKLYN – In the 1950s, when television watching began, people left the dining room, but still wanted to eat “properly” in a civilized way. The people of American aspiration, namely upper middle class Americans, ate at dinner tables, a habit of generations, the emblem of upward mobility and respectability. RadioMORE HERE
Seald Sweet is promoting its history for its 110th year. MORE HERE
PALMETTO – Across the U.S., there is no shortage of run-down small and medium-sized towns that used to be far more prominent than they once were. Through most of the 20th century, these towns and small cities often had regional brands connected to them, the most prolific being agricultural produceMORE HERE