Predating the craze of "Putting a Bird on It" was the trend of putting a "Keep Calm and Carry On" print on it.
The print has it roots in a
World War II-era poster intended to keep British spirits up should a wartime disaster have occurred, but remained relatively unknown and forgotten until it's rediscovery in an English bookshop in 2000.
The owners of the bookshop began reprinting the poster for customers, and by the late-2000s, you could not visit a design blog without seeing a reproduction of the print in one form or another...
In main living areas:
Via Manola for the Home, original source unknown.
...then in kitchens:
Alyson's Illustrated Home
from Apartment Therapy
...and nurseries:
"Adorable Aqua and Red Nursery"
from Little Green Notebook.
...and in some homes, every single room:
Like Flickr user pjinomaha.
Then there were the home accesories, like mugs, calendars, shower curtains...
...and
rugs from SwissMiss...
and eventually body art:
Keep Calm and Carry On tattoo
from Irene_Adler on RateMyInk.com.
So it was logical that once "Put a Bird on It" captured the exact spirit of a good design idea gone ubiquitous, artists would begin combining the two:
From
Flickr user RedRaspus
and
Happy Zombie's rendition.
So, what do you think, is the goose cooked when it comes to the "Keep Calm and Carry On" trend?
