Orange Wrappers
This is the season for oranges and lemons, when every morning I begin the day by consuming a juicy blood orange. So I was more than delighted when Keren McConnell kindly sent me her glorious fruit wrapper collection from the seventies to share with you.
“I started collecting fruit papers when I was six years old, possibly inspired by a holiday in Spain in 1971. Most of the papers stuck in my small scrapbook were picked up while shopping for groceries with my mother at the local greengrocers in Blackheath. I think they reminded me of that holiday with their bright and graphic imagery.
I was drawn to the designs and texture and feel of the crinkly tissue paper. I also collected carrier bags and paper bags for their graphics, but this collection did not survive all our house moves.
Who knows? This book of fruit papers may have even informed my career. I became a print and graphics designer for fashion brands and retailers, sometimes using this scrapbook as reference material to inspire a T-shirt design.
As a child, particular favourites were the designs depicting animals, beautiful ladies and the smiling face on the Sicilian lemon is particularly appealing. I have no idea why the Tower of London was on a fruit paper from Spain. Perhaps the designer thought London was an exotic place, just as I had found Spain so exotic? Some of the designs seem to have been inspired by sport, such as horse racing and Formula One.
Are children today inclined to make collections like this? Mine was born out of boredom, particularly on wet Sundays when the days felt so long.”
Keren McConnell
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Beautiful collection. Nice to see that other people also value these delightful papers.
I use mine now in collages and other artwork because it seems a shame to keep them hidden in drawers.
Thanks to the G. A. for showing them. C x
Thanks for sharing your collection of mini works of art. I too was intrigued by the use of the Tower Of London. How many wrappers did you have in your collection ? Sadly , I don’t think kids collect in the same way today.
Fantastic. Thank you so much.
(I believe Louise Fili, one of the most noted graphic designers in the US, did a little book about her collection of these packaging “tissues”. ) To me, it is another form of ephemera, and therefore endlessly fascinating. These “throw-aways” have great beauty — for anyone with the EYE to notice them, and collect them. I’m always so happy when we get to see these very personal collections, thanks to the GA.
In the 1970s, I was captivated by dual fascinations: needlepoint AND vintage fruit labels. I decided to combine the two, and designed four needlepoint toss pillows; inspired by California fruit labels. As a designer of corporate communications at the time, it was a fun side project to explore this color-drenched off-beat topic and translate those graphics into a stitched form. The resultant pillows were shown in a magazine — and, better yet, I still have them. Fruit labels are exemplars of unique display typography, combined with color-blocked vibrant illustrations. They depict a sunny, idealized world and entice the eye with a lavish primary palette. As we say here in New York: “What’s not to like !!!??”.
I remember fruit coming wrapped in these when I was a child, the wrappers were like miniature works of art and very colourful. When I was 9 years old in primary school we had a project where the teacher asked us to bring in fruit wrappers or labels from tin cans, it was to teach us where all our food came from in the world. She pinned all of them around the dado rail of the classroom. Her name was Mrs Skinner, she was a lovely lady who came out of retirement when there was a shortage of teachers in the area, her late husband had been the local vet.
A wonderful reminder of my growing up years, because I too collected fruit papers. I no longer have them but don’t recall what might have happened to them.
I too was fascinated by the tissue fruit wrappers around oranges, apples, pears etc. I collected them into an album around 1957/8 and I used them to gain my Brownie’s Collector badge. Sadly I don’t have them now, but I learnt about where fruit came from and the colours and sometimes flags of many nations.