This week we slapped together a clip featuring a fraction of the t shirt graphics we have had the fun of producing over the last quarter century.
Fossicking through the folders for a quick selection was fun, but also enlightening. We thought we had most of the back catalogue available in our side project over at the NzoPrintShop, but we found many designs we had forgotten about or simply overlooked when we were making that on-demand print site active.
There were also designs we recalled but couldn’t find… that is a project for a future exploration into several boxes of CDs. Relics from the days before cheap hard drives, CDs still hold many precious memories. If we can find the correct one, which is a long shot.
Meanwhile, the designs we did unearth: ElFlamo. This was one of the first prints we offered in the Nzo proto shop, when we called ourselves N-Zone. Our collaborator Jonny Clark, alias The InkDoctor, is one the best screen printers we have ever met. In the early days, we would do the artwork by hand, and Jonny would make the film required for his screen-making and produce the Ts, in ridiculously small batches. We must have been his main nuisance customer, but he never refused a job.
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ElFlamo, it was pointed out by some bright spark at the time, could be read as NZ on E. That was pertinent at the time because the chemical entertainer thay called Ecstasy had just landed in our happy little South Seas paradise. Not that we knew anything about that. Ecstacy for us was in the forest at the edge of town. But still, hee hee. 25 years later it could refer to electric mountain bikes, so we have made this design live again for a limited time. ElFlamo will be discontinued in May 2048. Technology has allowed us to offer the back catalogue in the way we do because printing one-at-a-time we don’t have to commit to printing any up front. That was not the case when we came up with designs like this one, and ordering a pile of them was always slightly terrifying. What if nobody likes it? That type of worry meant some designs never saw the light of day. With good reason, probably. Check the selection below. Two were printed, one survives today |
