Scanning Around With Gene: Mystery Matchbox Art from the Soviet Era
This installment is a bit of a mystery—an eBay find that was simply listed as “Matchbox labels safety match Russia.” They arrived in a…
Scanning Around with Gene
Gene Gable combs through his extensive personal collection of vintage magazines, trade catalogs, old instruction manuals, product brochures, promotional pamphlets, and advertisements to bring this collection of ephemera and design...
Scanning Around With Gene was a long-running, popular weekly column on CreativePro.com written by designer and collector Gene Gable.
We have also collected a number of these great articles in the book Scanning Around with Gene, Volume 1: The Graphic Arts — a free downloadable for CreativePro members.
Scanning Around With Gene: Books That Fit in a Purse
When I was growing up, one of the staples of the supermarket checkout line was a rack of tiny books that sold for 10…
Scanning Around With Gene: The Story of Joe the Alcoholic
I’ve seen the ravages of alcoholism among family, friends, and business partners, and they are not to be taken lightly. I’ve also seen the…
Scanning Around With Gene: Eyelets, Grommets, and Puttees
I love anonymous art, particularly of the industrial kind. So while today’s installment may not appeal to everyone, I found the material strangely compelling….
Scanning Around With Gene: Spring is Here
It’s been a bad week in the world and it’s hard not to get depressed. But let us not miss the wonder that is…
Scanning Around With Gene: The Seven Basic Food Groups
When I was growing up, the food in our house fell into three basic food groups: things that were fried, things that were boiled,…
Scanning Around With Gene: Boy Heroes
Everybody wants to be a hero. As a boy I certainly did and often imagined myself innocently riding my bike when sudden tragedy called…
Scanning Around With Gene: There's Nothing Like a New Coat of Paint
My favorite period for interior design is surely the 1950s, or at least what I imagine that era to be. I’m always on the…
Scanning Around With Gene: Unsafe at Any Speed
I bought my first car at age 15, before I could drive, from an ad in the local paper. Even my father couldn’t resist…
Scanning Around With Gene: Party Fun and Games
I was recently invited to a gala black-tie fundraiser that had a vintage television theme, complete with Hollywood-style sets and actors posing as the…
Scanning Around With Gene: The Lesser-Known Life Magazine
When I recently ran across some very early editions of Life magazine at a thrift shop, I was surprised – the logo, format, and…
Scanning Around With Gene: The Fuller Brush Man
I’m just old enough to remember the Fuller Brush Man coming to our door in the early 1960s. There were lots of door-to-door salesmen…