Portland Design in the 1960s: Suits. Cocktails. Talent.

Promo sheet for Bennet Norrbo, showcasing his work for Jantzen.

The 1960s design scene in Portland had elements that may seem familiar to designers today: passionate creatives, a small community, and a collaborative work ethic. Out of this creative pool emerged Byron Ferris, Bennet Norrbo, and Charles Politz, three men whose careers overlapped, who influenced each other and yet left their mark in distinctly different ways.

Charles, Bennet and Byron worked to develop some of Portland’s biggest brands, like Jantzen and Pendleton, defining the city’s stake in outdoor and athletic wear. As mythologized in Mad Men, the “Golden Age of Advertising” claims New York City as its epicenter. But even in Portland, advertising was changing and practitioners were defining their craft. While Portland’s ad men may have had a few things in common with their fictionalized NYC counterparts, their differences are more stark.

A Young Lion of Design: The Story of Tom Lincoln

1967 Pendleton ad with Cheryl Tiegs on right

“I had a crush on the Jantzen smile girl, Dolores Hawkins,” relates Tom Lincoln with a grin. “One of my first assignments was for Pendleton, to help direct the photography for an ad in front of Robinson’s Department Store in Los Angeles,” Tom recalled. “In the ad, we were using a lamb as a part of the wool story. The photographer brought models from New York City. One of the models was Cheryl Tiegs, who went on to become the most photographed in the world.”

Marilyn Holsinger: A Woman Before Her Time

Marilyn’s promotional sheet for Studio 1030.

Studio 1030

Marvelous Marilyn. That’s what they called her at Portland’s influential freelancers collective, Studio 1030, where Marilyn Holsinger was the group’s only woman artist in 1960. Marilyn was marvelous by all accounts, but also a serious career woman. She held 11 design positions across 40 years and three states. She worked for ad agencies, newspapers and universities. Her clients included: Meier & Frank, Viewmaster, Revlon, the San Francisco Examiner, Oregon State University (OSU) and countless others. The references on her resume are a list of who’s who in the Portland design scene of that era. She was exuberant and stylish, athletic and a natural leader. She was cracking the glass ceiling just by showing up and doing her best work with grace. “I don’t remember her feeling like what she was doing was groundbreaking,” reflects her daughter Joan. “If anything she was just a woman before her time.”

Byron Ferris: Portland's Dean of Design

1962 Staff of the Museum Art School (now PNCA). Byron in center in front of statue.

If a council were formed to determine a list of the “Founding Fathers” of the Portland design community, Byron Ferris’s name would have to be near the top of that list. Sure, there were others who grew to be big-wigs in advertising, but you’d be hard pressed to find someone as talented, influential and well-loved as Byron.

Born in Portland in 1921, Byron’s creativity and organizational skills developed early; he drew his first cartoons for his classmates and for money at age nine. While attending Jefferson High School, class of 1939, he formed the Korny Kartoon Klub with fellow schoolmates which kicked off a lifetime of writing, entertaining, drawing and telling “korny” jokes. For Byron Ferris, who later be known as Portland’s “Dean of Design”, humor was always critical.