House Industries Toasts 25 Years With New Book and Retrospective

When Andy Cruz crossed paths with Rich Roat, their uninhibited and entrepreneurial natures fused, sparking a connection that was ultimately cemented by a partnership. “We started a small graphic design company that learned to make fonts,” Roat says. “Then those fonts inspired us to dabble.” Indeed. From case goods to bike gear, House Industries diverted wildly from the two-dimensional confines of typography, largely though licensing: Stencil and Ornament clocks by Heath Ceramics, the Slash-O cabinet by Stellar Works, and the Eames Wire Base Low tables by Charles and Ray Eames with screen-printed tops by Herman Miller.
 

This May, the partners revisit their 25-year association with House Industries: The Process is the Inspiration, a 400-page journey through the firm’s creative processes from Watson-Guptill. The release dovetails with “House Industries: A Type of Learning,” a retrospective opening May 27 at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn, Michigan.

> See more from the March 2017 issue of Interior Design