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Vintage Toronto Ads: The Surgeon General Warns That Choosing Office Furniture Will Make You Lose Your Colour

By Jamie Bradburn

2007_08_28_as.jpg
Pity Mr. Businessman, so lacking in colour. He may have secured a lovely office set for his coworkers from a venerable North Toronto furniture supplier, but his grey demeanor led to his dismissal during a round of belt-tightening at A.T. & Love in 1980.
Note the pyramid, which plays into the “abstract mystery usually associated with office planning.” The Pyramid Power fad reached its height in Toronto during the Maple Leafs’ 1976 playoff run, when coach Red Kelly placed pyramids around the dressing room and under the bench. Kelly felt the pyramids would act as a confidence booster by distracting the team from the latest outbursts from irascible owner Harold Ballard.
During this period, a second location was maintained in Bermuda. One wonders how many luxury desk sets were lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
Source: Saturday Night, March 1978

Comments

  • Threnody

    Also note the two big-ass ash trays on the table! Oh, those were the days.

  • Patrick Metzger

    Proof that David Miller hair is timeless.

  • guest

    it makes me sad when i see furniture like this out on the curb for trash collection. i recently scored a 1976 Ethan Allen catalogue that i found in my grandmother’s basement while snooping around and it’s chock full of beautiful furniture that unfortunately you only see in peoples’ garages and basements and out for garbage. i guess they never figured out a way to make them nicotine stain repellant.

  • David J. Widmann

    I’ve worked in places that still look like that… except it’s Post-It blocks on the desk instead of ashtrays.

  • David Newland

    I think that IS David Miller. I can’t help feeling like this is connected to the issue of whether to renovate his office in these fiscally fraught times.

  • Chris Taylor

    I agree with Dave Newland—that sure looks like David Miller to me. Maybe he had a profitable sideline as a model in order to pay for his Harvard tuition.

  • Marc Lostracco

    Was that chrome-fronted desk called “The Upskirt”?