The life and work of Lawrence Peabody

My name is Jeremy Osborn and this site is a tribute to the life and work of my grandfather, Lawrence Peabody.

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(Danish Walnut Children's desk/hutch)

This children's bedroom set was designed to span the life of a child, from kindergarten to college. The idea was that elements like the window treatments and the rugs would change but the furniture was meant to last. (This is not IKEA!). Everything had a walnut finish and the door panels of the dresser were made of cane and reversible.

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Introducing the Lawrence Peabody collection

At some point I'll have to post a video to show the cool design of this marketing material. This is the cover of a trifold booklet containing "selling aids" for my grandfather's line of furniture. I'm uncertain of the exact year, but it would be in the late 50's as you can likely tell from the distinctive graphic design seen here. The trifold opens up and there is ad copy on the inside, the whole piece is very well produced. it's hard to see in this scan, but the paper has a "glitter" texture embedded, it still sparkles 50 years later! (I'm assuming it's not radioactive).

The booklet originally contained "ready-to-run ad mats", "press releases and photos", "radio spot copy", "samples of direct mail and hand out card" and a price list. The copy I have only has 4 pictures, which I will post at some point.

The chair sketch is the for "911 Chair", a photo of which I will link to soon.

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Raison d'être

So I'm joining the Tumblr crowd with this site. It seemed a perfect fit. For the longest time I've had the mind to put documents relating to my grandfather online. However, as many of these sorts of projects go, the reality of the undertaking outstripped the concept. Enter Tumblr with its super easy publishing model.

My grandfather was a fascinating man. He was an architect, interior designer, furniture designer and much more. He died in 2002 at the age of 78 and left behind a dozen lifetimes worth of "stuff". My goal is to post items as I come across them, in the hopes of preserving his memory but also because his history fascinates me.

As a graphic and web designer I was influenced by his tastes and work in subtle ways. Our fields were interrelated and in his later years (which were really the beginning of my professional career) I was able to learn from his work and he pointed me to resources that still help me today.

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The gingerbread house my grandfather bought in the late 1960's. Located in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. This image was from a postcard which accounts for the two ladies in the foreground.