I rather like these vintage French seed packets, and it seems I’m not the only one, as they are now selling as framed prints and as patchwork wallpaper for the kitchen … check Google images.
I love the colour vibrancy and visual style although the compositions are not very beautifully balanced, considering the subject matter they are cropped a little awkwardly.
As a set displayed on shop racks and such the designs have some continuity between the tonality of the greens and yellows, all the other multitude of colours gives the feeling of variety and the subject context. Another added benefit with these French designs is that the typography is very uniform, simple and understated. There’s no advertising of the company’s name and address, no price tag and most importantly; not mentioning the obvious ... for example, a floral image and then the type saying: garden and flower seeds. The name of the flower is all that is needed and for further clarification, the Latin botanical translation developed by Carl Linnaeus.
“The binomial (two name) system of nomenclature was developed by Swedish naturalist, Carl Linnaeus in the mid-1700s. Grouping plants according to similarities such as leaves, flowers and fruit, he founded a natural order and named them accordingly.”
Compared to other seed packaging from past to present. Where designs fail for too many reasons to justify, I think these standout and deserve a worthy mention, but perhaps the wallpaper is a no.
date of packaging 1920’s/30’s size 2.25"x4.00"
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