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Greetings Card

1960-1980 (published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

For almost forty years from the 1960s until the partnership was wound up in 1996 graphic designer Colin Banks of the design consultancy Banks & Miles produced an unusual corporate Christmas card to send to clients and friends. It consisted of a cardboard or metal cylindrical "Christmas pot" wrapped in a printed paper sleeve designed by Banks and containing some festive or whimsical contents (sweets, a phone card, a length of "red tape") appropriately or humorously tying in with the design on the sleeve. Conceptually, Banks's seasonal multiples anticipate by almost two decades, though in a graphic design rather than "fine art" idiom, the art handling company MOMART's famous commissioning of contemporary artists to devise its own Christmas multiple which is also collected by the V&A.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Aluminium, lithography on paper
Brief description
Christmas multiple designed by Colin Banks for Banks & Miles.
Physical description
Metal can with screw-on lid and paper sleeve printed in deep pink, orange, yellow and green. The can orinally contained a lollipop wrapped in cellophane and deep pink tissue paper. The colours of the printed sleeve match the colours of the lollipop and wrapper inside.
Dimensions
  • Height: 12.1cm
  • Maximum diameter: 8cm
Production typeLimited edition
Marks and inscriptions
  • banks / and / miles (Lettered in orange, green and yellow as part of the design.)
  • Banks & Miles / London W1 / 7A Grafton Street / 01-493 3025 / Banks & Miles / Amsterdam / Buiten Brouwersstr 12 / 020-254093 (Lettered in white as part of the design of the outer sleeve.)
Credit line
Given by Colin Banks
Summary
For almost forty years from the 1960s until the partnership was wound up in 1996 graphic designer Colin Banks of the design consultancy Banks & Miles produced an unusual corporate Christmas card to send to clients and friends. It consisted of a cardboard or metal cylindrical "Christmas pot" wrapped in a printed paper sleeve designed by Banks and containing some festive or whimsical contents (sweets, a phone card, a length of "red tape") appropriately or humorously tying in with the design on the sleeve. Conceptually, Banks's seasonal multiples anticipate by almost two decades, though in a graphic design rather than "fine art" idiom, the art handling company MOMART's famous commissioning of contemporary artists to devise its own Christmas multiple which is also collected by the V&A.
Collection
Accession number
E.882-2000

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Record createdMarch 25, 2009
Record URL
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