Recapturist is the trade name of Bill Rose an artist who documents the beauty of vintage American design. He’s affiliated with American Sign Museum and Society for Commercial Archeology. Bill says that the most visually attractive designs in America are disappearing. That’s why he has decided to document them for future generations. The magnificent lights that once lined the roadsides are almost extinct and the modern architecture of the mid-Century is increasingly hard to find among non-residential structures. He adds that products that used to come branded with hand-drawn typographical elements and machine-stamped chrome badges are now marked with plastic decals and are made overseas. This disastrous state of affairs makes the gap between the present day and the golden age of design to widen. So Bill has spent the last more than 10 years on a mission to capture the finest examples of what’s left.
He travels the back roads of America looking for junkyards, neon signs, antique stores, yard sales, estate sales, etc. He looks for any evidence of these endangered designs that can still be found and captures them. This has resulted in a graphic collection of typography and design from an era that predates the specialized software and computers used by current high-tech designers. Recapturist’s images depict forms that were produced manually on a drawing table using techniques and tools that are nearly obsolete today. Bill Rose is a photographer and designer who hopes that is collection can serve as a reference guide that can bridge the typographic and design styles of today with those of the past.
