The Write Stuff
| November 15, 2017
L
oving Lisa Frank
The Lisa Frank collection explodes with bright glittery neon rainbowy colors full of glitz and glam! The stuff of a kid’s dreams!
As a little girl Lisa loved to… color and color and color and she also liked to read do artwork and do all kinds of girly stuff. Her birthday presents were always some kind of artsy thing; her favorite was her weaving loom. Well all this kind of made sense for her as her father was an art collector and her mother a pottery designer.
Lisa started out designing plastic jewelry that sold in upscale stores like Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus under the brand Sticky Fingers. When she switched her line of design from jewelry to stationery some of her characters are shown wearing those earrings and necklaces. Once she started designing her stationery she couldn’t stop; she spent hours with her paints and brushes getting it just right.
In a rare interview she defined her loves as “…first and foremost rainbows then hearts music notes teddy bears unicorns stars color fantasy and jewels.”
You think anyone could print Lisa Frank items? The company ordered a specially made ink that printed bolder and brighter. The recipe was a huge secret and any company they worked with had to sign a special confidentiality agreement. And once finished one copy of every item was placed in a fireproof vault!
Favorite Characters
Gotta be the most well-dressed cat you’ve ever seen! Meet Purrscilla the Cat — wearing gorgeous colorful clothing and jewels frolicking around living the life of absolute luxury and loving to get pampered and puffed.
The personal favorite of Lisa. And can’t forget Markie the unicorn prancing around on Airfluff Island in swirls of clouds colors and hearts. He was a happy-go-lucky animal and friends with all!
Comments from Kids (and those who were kids back then.…):
Tzirel age 34: In my class you were super cool if you had the Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper. After much begging and cajoling my parents finally agreed to buy me one. It was super colorful and had a picture of a panda painting.
Devora mother of four: I had a massive collection of everything Lisa Frank. I was totally obsessed. I got Lisa Frank stuff for every occasion I could. Even my teacher was giving it out as prizes. And she got us to work hard! I think I learned the most that year! Don’t tell anyone but I recently saw a super-duper colorful sweatshirt on the rack and knew right away it was a Lisa Frank piece. I couldn’t resist. I bought it!
Carson Calls
A favorite for kids and teachers. Can be found in virtually every classroom and on every bulletin board. Bright and friendly with their trademark smile. Can you guess? Carson-Dellosa. Do those friendly guys add a bit of color and cheer to your school day? Chana N. remembers the days of her youth colored with lots of stationery collecting. Her favorites? The smiley school buses — on notepads on Post-its and postcards.
Whose “bright” ideas were these products? Patti Carson and Janet Dellosa were school teachers with a mission to elevate learning in a fun and creative way. And they’ve been doing a wonderful job of it for over 40 years. (Excerpted from Mishpacha Jr. Issue 685)
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