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March 10, 2005
Heraldry
My parents were fans of the Time-Life series: I remember in particular the "Nature Library" and "This Fabulous Century." Many were the afternoons that I would lie on the floor of the living room or the office of the Palo Alto houses in which I spent my tween and adolescent years, reading some articles but mostly observing the pictures. The pictures drew me in. I wanted to learn everything about everything.
It was books on design that particularly interested me, perhaps since these books were in short supply. When I moved out of the house and built a library of my own, this deficiency was gradually remedied by the spending of hundreds of dollars at the local bookstore on Hayes Street and (occasionally) William Stout Books in North Beach.
One of the few books on design on the shelves in Palo Alto was Moncreiffe and Pottinger's Simple Heraldry. I learned how coats of arms were "differenced" so that siblings could tell each other apart on the battlefield. I think the book resonated with me on both elitist and designy frequencies. I liked the idea that someone was entitled to wear a particular coat of arms that had specific meaning and expressed some (usually insignificant) part of their genealogical history. "I know who I am because I wear a coat of arms that tells me so." I did not inherit the dedicated Royalist gene from my maternal side, or at least it is not expressed in me. For that reason I was never as interested in M&P's Blood Royal. But the idea that people adorn themselves with personal symbols of their identity still appeals to me.
Much later, I discovered that Formula One racers designed their own helmets for basically the same reason coats of arms were used. On the racetrack, drivers move from team to team from time to time, and so the helmet tells the viewer (and posterity) who piloted the automobile. It turns out that motorcycle racers have done the same thing for ages as well. Giacomo Agostini's tricolor helmet (a design still produced by AGV) has become an icon of the Italian motorcycling world, but in my estimation, no helmet tops Renzo Pasolini's sly "Four-Eyes" reference.
As I ask about the color of my parachute, perhaps I should also ask what symbol(s) have particular meaning for me. Something with wheels, no doubt.
Posted by Underblog at March 10, 2005 6:48 AM
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Comments
it's obvious that you need to design your Personal Symbol. you could teach self-improvement workshops with Personal Symbol Design as the central theme. Big bucks to be had from preying on the insecurities of your fellowperson.
oh. in the beginning you said "build" instead of "built".
Posted by: sherman at March 10, 2005 9:25 AM
uh oh...I liked 'the primates book' in that edition but was somewhat traumatized by the centerfold photo of an orangutan who looked too much like Dad.
Posted by: heather at March 10, 2005 6:32 PM