Legal Paperweight, M & Co., 1980 “PARADOX WAS KALMAN’S PLAYING FIELD, AND HE PLAYED IN IT WELL.” - KATHLEEN CORGAN The self-described “Bad Boy of Graphic Design,” Tibor Kalman was best known for the irreverent creations of his firm M & Co. and as the Editor-in-Chief of Benetton’s socially progressive COLORS Magazine. Kalman’s sensibilities were born from his status as an immigrant and an outsider from youth. He even left his first year of college to support The Vencemeros, a revolutionary group who embraced the very Communist ideology his family fled in their migration from Hungary to the United States. This very brand of paradox became Kalman’s playing field, and he played in it well. Following his earliest design work with Barnes & Noble, he opened M&Co., servicing clients like Chiat Day, The Limited and MTV with what he later sardonically described as “Design by the Pound.” A force to be reckoned with, he never missed a chance to stand the status quo on its head, paving the way for a new generation of designers to carry on his conviction that design matters. COLORS Magazine, Issue 7, June 1994 “Tibor Kalman: Perverse Optimist”, 1998 Talking Heads, “Remain In Light”, M & Co., 1980 “Notorious”, Herb Ritts Book Cover 1992 Tibor Kalman something no one HATES “when you make Kalman MAD Brochure_14.indd 1 5/10/14 3:30 PM
Transcript
Legal Paperweight, M & Co., 1980
“PARADOX WAS KALMAN’S PLAYING FIELD, AND HE PLAYED IN IT WELL.”
- KATHLEEN CORGAN
The self-described “Bad Boy of Graphic Design,” Tibor Kalman was best known for the irreverent creations of his firm M & Co. and as the Editor-in-Chief of Benetton’s socially progressive COLORS Magazine.
Kalman’s sensibilities were born from his status as an immigrant and an outsider from youth. He even left his first year of college to support The Vencemeros, a revolutionary group who embraced the very Communist ideology his family fled in their migration from Hungary to the United States.
This very brand of paradox became Kalman’s playing field, and he played in it well. Following his earliest design work with Barnes & Noble, he opened M&Co., servicing clients like Chiat Day, The Limited and MTV with what he later sardonically described as “Design by the Pound.”
A force to be reckoned with, he never missed a chance to stand the status quo on its head, paving the way for a new generation of designers to carry on his conviction that design matters.
COLORS Magazine, Issue 7, June 1994
“Tibor Kalman: Perverse Optimist”, 1998
Talking Heads, “Remain In Light”, M & Co., 1980“Notorious”, Herb Ritts Book Cover 1992
Tibor Kalman
something no one HATES“when you make
Kalman MAD Brochure_14.indd 1 5/10/14 3:30 PM
MAg o o d d e s i g n e r s
Blueprint Paperweight, M & Co., 1984
United Colors of Benetton, Oliviero Toscani & Tibor Kalman
no one LOVES it.” - Tibor Kalman
To Kalman, design engendered both cul-ture and communication, bearing with it the responsibility to improve upon, rather than exploit, social conditions. In order to convey meaning, he often leaned heavily on the vernacular, and was a genius at reinventing everyday objects and sym-bols to drive the message home.
september 1 - december 31, 2014
Kalman MAD Brochure_14.indd 2 5/10/14 3:30 PM
Blueprint Paperweight, M & Co., 1984
United Colors of Benetton, Oliviero Toscani & Tibor Kalman
no one LOVES it.” - Tibor Kalman
To Kalman, design engendered both cul-ture and communication, bearing with it the responsibility to improve upon, rather than exploit, social conditions. In order to convey meaning, he often leaned heavily on the vernacular, and was a genius at reinventing everyday objects and sym-bols to drive the message home.
MAg o o d d e s i g n e r s
Kalman MAD Brochure_14.indd 3 5/10/14 3:30 PM
no one LOVES it.” - Tibor Kalman
Blueprint Paperweight, M & Co., 1984
United Colors of Benetton, Oliviero Toscani & Tibor Kalman
To Kalman, design engendered both culture and communication, bearing with it the responsibility to improve upon, rather than exploit, social condi-tions. In order to convey meaning, he often leaned heavily on the vernacular, and was a genius at reinventing every-day objects and symbols to drive the message home.
The self-described “Bad Boy of Graphic Design,” Tibor Kalman was best known for the irreverent creations of his firm M & Co. and as the Editor-in-Chief of Benetton’s socially progressive COLORS Magazine.
