Pittsfield Artist Wins Crane's Design Challenge

John Neiner, an illustrator with Pixel Graphic Design Studio in Pittsfield has been selected as the winner of the second Berkshire Creative Challenge. This year, the Challenge was hosted by Crane & Co. As a result of his submission, John will be creating a new holiday design collection for Crane's 2012 season.


Founded in 2005 by John’s brother, Pixel has been an outlet for their creative skills and imagination. Over the past few years John has transitioned from his background in traditional media into the realm of digital-art. John resides in the Berkshires with his wife Erin and their 3 energetic boys. In addition to art, John also enjoys rock climbing, ventriloquism and a slew of other eclectic pastimes.


Earlier this summer, I had the great pleasure of touring the 13 finalists around Crane's production facilities with Karla Cushman, Crane's Design Manager. Here's a link to photos from the tour.


Our regional NPR station - WAMC in Albany, N.Y., did a really nice piece on the Challenge. You can listen to it here.


“John stood out to everyone on the review committee.  His work was impressive, organized, and imaginative,” said Megan Kuntze, Crane’s Brand Director, “We are looking forward to working with John on future creative assignments.”


In addition to John, six other designers were identified as potential resources for future freelance projects. through the Berkshire Creative Challenge.

History of Type and Design Through Engraving Dies

Over the past several days, the folks at Crane's Personal Design Services (where they do the engraving and thermography) have been sorting through old engraving dies to make some room. Gayle Driggers, product manager for personalized stationery, and I had a blast first going through two 50-gallon drums filled with handcut steel engraving dies. We didn't count, but there were thousands.

Some we're going to save for their historic significance. I'll find a place for them in the Crane Museum of Papermaking. Others will be used for design inspiration or to create "retro" engraving motifs. And then there are the monograms. In those two drums, in hundreds of large flat drawers. Thousands and thousands of monograms dating from the beginning of the 20th century.

There is a complete century of type, monogram and stationery design just begging for attention.

So we'll be thinking about what to do with these beautiful little pieces of art and history. Maybe you'll even see them as paperweights on crane.com. Who knows?

Have a look at some of the fun things we found. Pardon the dirty fingers. More to follow.

My favorite, so far......