TOMADO DUTCH POSTER

This engaging offset lithograph advertising a wire basket made by the Dutch company Tomado shows a farmer whose woven basket full of potatoes has ripped apart, scattering the potatoes on the ground. The farmer is busy scooping the potatoes from the ground into a sturdy, upright wire basket made by Tomado. Wearing his clogs and smoking his pipe, the farmer is smiling as he's shoveling, happy to have a new, superior wire basket for storing and transporting his potatoes.

The Dutch words "ijzersterk en vederlicht," appearing under the company name Tomado, translate as "very strong and light as a feather."  Clearly this is in reference to the new wire basket the farmer is using. Underneath these Dutch words, the poster states, in dark print, Tomado N.V. Zwijandrecht, repeating the company name and the town in the Netherlands where it is located.

Dutch kitchenware company Tomado was founded in Holland in 1923 as a manufacturer of copper hooks. Expanding its metalwork production to include cookware, knives, small appliances, and storage solutions (such as wire baskets), it emerged in the post WWII era as a popular manufacturer of these items.

The Swiss kitchenware company Metaltex absorbed Tomado in the early 1980s.

The artist is Jan Wijga (1902-1978), a well known Dutch graphic designer.   The printer is shown as Smeets and Schippers in Amsterdam.

The notable design of this early 1950s poster, with its dark background and lighted focus on the farmer, makes it visually appealing.  It will add a note of interest to every vintage poster collection.

Condition: A