The Art of Clairtone: The Making of a Design Icon, 1958-1971

By Nina Munk and Rachel Gotlieb

A fully illustrated, stylish look back at the story behind a Canadian design icon. For a decade, in the 1960s, the Clairtone Sound Corporation captured the spirit of the times: sophisticated, cosmopolitan, liberated. From its modern oiled-walnut and teak consoles to its minimalist logo and cheeky marketing materials, Clairtone produced a body of design work that is still today contemporary. Founded in 1958 by two Canadian upstarts, Peter Munk and David Gilmour, the fledgling manufacturer of hi-fi and TV consoles quickly became known for its iconic designs and masterful advertising campaigns. Its Project G stereo, winner of the silver medal at the 1964 Milan Triennale, with its space-age styling, and costing as much as a small car, was the epitome of bachelor pad cool. Famously, Hugh Hefner owned a Project G. So did Frank Sinatra. In 1967, suggesting how deeply it had come to be identified with popular culture, a Project G appeared in The Graduate alongside Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft. Richly illustrated with more than two hundred images, The Art of Clairtone is a candid and intimate look at the company's skyrocketing success and sensational collapse. Through the personal and private recollections of those who knew Clairtone best, from its founders to its designers, engineers, and salesmen, and with comments from Karim Rashid, Douglas Coupland, Tyler Brule, and Bruce Mau, this elegant book captures the influence and spirit of an iconoclastic company that seemed to represent all the promise of Canada.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0771065078
• ISBN13: 9780771065071
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 2.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 10.4"