Peter Max's 7UP Butterfly and "Me"

I started thinking about the interior finish trends from the beginning's of my career. Very few companies connected to current culture at the time. Interior design training centered on historic styles up to and including Bauhaus (what we now call mid-century modern.) I have no memory whatsoever of "looking forward" in my design education. History is instructive, but much like using last year's sales as an indicator for tomorrow, time marches on.

We were boomers, and from our days on college campuses we were used to starting revolutions and interiors definitely needed a revolution - but corporations were not really ready for us. We made ourselves heard anyway, this model home family room in central Florida was my first bit of daring in a traditional corporate culture. We were on a tight budget, and all it took was a phone call to 7UP and they sent one of their fabulous Peter Max posters - without hesitation. I was working for Armstrong at the time, and they may not have been on the leading edge of product styling, but I got away with this unusual stunt because they were, without a doubt, the most progressive marketers in the entire interior finish industry. The story about the how the advertising department of the company created a "brand" before that word took on a life of its own, has been chronicled in How Armstrong Floored America-the People Who Made It Happen, 1945-1995 by Eugene Moore published by the Lancaster County Historical Society.

When I rediscovered this picture, I realized that I had found the centerpiece for the narrative I am compiling of how color trends in finishes have continued to change since corporations started tracking trends rather than leaving product aesthetics up to the tastes of individual stylists and the whims of marketing executives.