Sunday 29 May 2011

Lionel Suttie - Finding Quartic Gold

I would be suprised if the blokes who found the "welcome stranger" gold nugget near Dunolly were more excited than I was when I found, this week, the gold quartic salad set designed by Victorian industrial designer Lionel Suttie. The bright gold contents were great but the real excitement was for the box which was in near perfect condition. This one simple piece of cardboard means so much to my research project. 

I was not aware of the packaging that went with this range of products developed by Lionel in the early seventies at the Nylex factory in Hartnett Drive Seaford. RMIT industrial design students had recalled visiting the factory as Lionel was the evening plastics design lecturer. I had seen many versions of the product and even the sales brochure, but never the retail packaging. The significance for me is that this range was clearly determined to be marketed with the focus on the designer and the commitment to design by the manufacturer. We see Lionel's signature and his position with the Industrial Design Institute of Australia is a key marketing component on the box. The wonderful seventies geometric package design is fantastic.


Bessemer Quartic Salad Set designed by industrial designer Lionel Suttie.


Designed by Lionel Suttie featured on Bessemer packaging. 


Packaging highlights Lionel Suttie's status as a Fellow of the Industrial Design Institute of Australia.




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