We are very excited to announce a trip to visit Lou Dorsfman’s Gastrotypographicassemblage at the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, New York. Nick Fasciano who worked with Lou to help put the wall together, and later, retrieved and restored it will be discussing the wall with us as we sit in front of it. Alexander Tochilovsky, curator of the Lubalin Center at The Cooper Union, will share his knowledge of Herb Lubalin and his work with Lou on this magnificent achievement.

Gastrotypographicalassemblage is a 35 feet (11 m) wide by 8.5 feet (2.6 m) tall work of art designed by Lou Dorfsman to decorate the cafeteria in Eero Saarinen’s CBS Building in New York City. As the senior vice president and creative director for marketing communications and design for the Columbia Broadcasting System, Dorfsman was responsible for all aspects of the building’s graphic designating the type, design and spacing for wall clocks, elevator buttons, and elevator inspection stickers. He designed what he called Gastrotypographicalassemblage for the building’s cafeteria, using varied typefaces to list all of the foods offered to patrons in hand-milled wood type. The completed work was based on ideas conceived in the mid-1960s. The project was ultimately completed in 1966 with assistance from graphic designer Herb Lubalin, and Tom Carnase, who crafted the typography from Dorfsman’s original design. Dorfsman considered this work to be “his magnum opus, his gift to the world”.

Gastrotypographicalassemblage was discarded in the early 1990s by CBS, but the work’s nine panels were retrieved by designer Nick Fasciano. It was in an advanced state of disrepair, aggravated by improper storage.

Following the death of Lou Dorfsman in 2008, it was announced that The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY would serve as the new home for Gastrotypographicalassemblage. The college has been working with Nick Fasciano to fund the restoration, and the work will be on public display for the first time starting in March 2014 when it will be showcased in the CIA’s new Marriott Pavilion and Conference Center.

Schedule:

8 a.m. (sharp) / Car leaves the TDC

10:30 – 11:30 / Nick Fasciano and Alexander Tochilovsky will discuss the wall

11:30 to 1:00 / Lunch at the Culinary Institute

1:30 p.m. / Return trip to New York City

Tickets for non TDC members after Friday, June 13th

Lunch is included in the price of the ticket at the American Bounty Restaurant.

Register Online