THE Japanese must have one word for meticulous and craft. They really have a culture of making fine goods. The object on this page is a Japanese Kobunroku, an official document from the Meiji period (1868 -1885). The box is from 1873 and contains wood samples from the northern island Hokkaido. The first image is from the inside of the folder, the second one is the cover.

THAT little black dog represents the woman’s magazine Marie Claire. The drawings are made by illustrator Tuan and where part of a booklet to promote the launch of the French magazine. The copy by the illustrations said ‘twice as manageable’ and ‘twice as faithful’. The improved Marie Claire hit the stands in 1968.

EVERY good exhibition needs a good catalogue. The exhibition that showed the work of William Scott and Kenneth Armitage had a particular good one. Benno Wissing designed it for the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. The catalogue was made in 1959. Wissing used the font Akzidenz Grotesk, the daddy of Helvetica. See more catalogues by Wissing here.

ZUPI is a quarterly magazine from Brazil that focuses on graphic design, typography, photography, illustration and street art. Designer Allan Szacher founded Zupi in 2003 and since then the print circulation has grown to 15.000. The main purpose of the creators of the magazine is to inform design connoisseurs what is going on in Brazil and show fellow countrymen work from the rest of the world. The magazine is a platform for Brazilian illustrators like Os Gemeos and Onesto. In the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam the Zupi editorial team designed an art space in the spirit of the magazine. It is part of a big exhibition called Brazil Contemporary. Check out photos of the art space here. You can visit the exhibition until 27 September. ......................................... ......................................... ...........................................

THIS soldier looks like he’s ready. He has got the appearance of a Star Wars bounty hunter. The soldier was part of an operation called Musk-ox. It was an exercise held in the late forties in the Canadian Arctic. The main goal was to get fighting experience in the harsh climate of the Arctic. That was necessary because an enemy was emerging from the north: the Soviet Union. As one Canadian Cabinet Minister explained: ‘We all know that invasion of North America, if and when, will come from the north, not the south. We have to be ready (… ) We have to be able to live, travel and fight in the cold.’

HANS Arp was a busy bee. He founded the Dada movement and was also active in Surrealist and Constructivist circles. In addition to sculpture, he produced poetry, painting and more than four hundred prints during his lifetime. The prints on this page were part of a portfolio published in 1923 as the fifth issue of Merz magazine. The title ‘Arpaden’ is a made-up word meaning ‘Arp things.’ In these seven lithographs, Arp created a series of simple yet graphically powerful ‘object pictures’ -Mustache Hat, The Navel Bottle, Mustache Watch, Eggbeater- that combine allusions to body parts and everyday things. Given his literary activities, it is not surprising that many of his prints were illustrations for books and journals, with a significant group made for Dada publications between 1916 and 1920. ............................................................... ............................................................... ...............................................................

LOOK at the covers of these copies of Museumjournaal. Dutch designer Jurriaan Schrofer did the lay out. Museumjournaal was collaboration between Dutch museums that focused on contemporary art. Next to the acronym MJ there was always a fragment of an artwork that was featured in the magazine. Like the famous stroke of paint by Lichtenstein on the first cover. The second one is an Yves Klein, followed by Christo. All of the magazines were printed in 1966 or 1967. Check out more here.

IN the sixties there were no metrosexuals. Men smoked, drank whiskey and, if they wished, dressed up as cowboys. But the guys from The Village People changed all that. On the covers of LIFE Magazine from the early sixties, the role between men and women was still clear. Men were though, women pretty. On the LIFE’s below you see a few though men. I added some extras on every cover, bonus points for the one who can find them all…