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Greetings Card

1985-1986 (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
Cardboard, lithography on paper, and cotton tape
Brief description
Christmas multiple designed by Colin Banks for Banks & Miles.
Physical description
Cardboard tube with plastic lid and paper sleeve printed with an image of a lion and a unicorn in red and lettering in black. The tube contains a length of HMSO red cotton tape some of which protrudes through a hole in the side of the tube as though from a dispenser.
Dimensions
  • Height: 13.7cm
  • Diameter: 7.9cm
Production typeLimited edition
Marks and inscriptions
  • BANKS & MILES 1 TRANQUIL VALE LONDON SE3 0BU . 01 - 318 1131 . (Lettered in black within the design.)
  • In 1986 / Her Majesty's / Stationery Office / will celebrate its / Bi-centenary / Banks & Miles / mark the occasion / and send / Christmas / Greetings / together with some / of the useful red tape / which HMSO / no longer uses. (Lettered in black within the design.)
  • In 1985 John Miles was appointed as typographical adviser to HMSO (Lettered in black within the design.)
Credit line
Given by Colin Banks
Subjects depicted
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.884-2000

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Record createdMarch 25, 2009
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