Recycled calendar

What’s Old is New Again. Block celebrates the recycling of time (and paper) with Dalton’s 2011 calendar. To celebrate the passing of time, the recurrence of trends, and the importance of protecting the Earth’s limited resources, Block turned to the hallowed treasure troves of eBay to create a calendar curated entirely from recycled calendars. After purchasing 25 dog-earred calendars from around the globe, whose dates marry the dates of 2011, Block designed one old-yet-new calendar to promote Dalton’s ‘Revive’ family of recycled paper products. “It was hilarious to discover how many people out there are obsessively collecting calendars. Every time a new calendar arrived at our studio, it felt like Christmas,” says Daniela Varone, art director at Block. She and copywriter Melita Masters selected 12 images from 25 calendars dating from 1921 to 1983. “The beauty of our recycling theme is that the calendar shows how design trends, typefaces, genres and printing techniques have changed over time – all the tiny details that designers and printers are fascinated by,” says Masters. Each image is accompanied by its eBay description, such as: ‘a great item for chicken collectors’, ‘worm or insect ate hole near top right corner’ and ‘does have a slight musty smell’. January reveals a beautifully etched illustration from a pilgim’s calendar dating back to 1921, secured for the bargain price of $6.95. May shows two illustrated chickens exchanging bad jokes, taken from a 1938 calendar promoting a local hatchery. July shows landscapes from ‘Bonnie Scotland’, August shows Charles and Diana in their wedding carriage (an image uncannily selected days before William and Kate announced their engagement) – while September shows a pair of furry cocker spaniels. Photographer Tony Nathan used a Hasselblad Multishot (MS50) to document each image. It’s the only camera of its kind in Western Australia, typically used to record artifacts for museums and galleries, and it captures images in such high-resolution that it reveals all the crinkles, creases and stains that mark the passing of time. Dalton’s ‘What’s Old is New Again’ 2011 calendar will be distributed to designers, art directors and printing professionals around Australia in January.