BOLTABEST TEMPO-TRAY
George Nelson [Designer]
George Nelson [Designer]: BOLTABEST TEMPO-TRAY. Lawrence, MA: General Plastics, Bolta Products Division, [1956]. Original laminated fabric plastic serving tray [stamped Boltabest / Made in USA / 279] with the Schiffer Prints “Skid” pattern designed by George Nelson. 14” x 17.75” tray with typical wear associated with these vintage trays: bottom uniformly scuffed, slightly roughened top edges and a tiny match head-sized chip and light scratching to the decorated surface. A good example of the most uncommon Schiffer-Based Bolta Tray.
14 x 17.75 plastic tray produced by Bolta utilizing the Stimulus Line of Schiffer Prints. Nelson’s “Skid” pattern— “textural horizontal stripes devised from the curving tire tracks of a skidding card”—is the least common of the Stimulus-based Trays, with no examples currently available online. The pattern is reproduced in a trade journal advertisement for Bolta’s Tempo-Trays with Stimulus textiles, manufactured by General Tire and Rubber in 1956. A Skid Tray is definitely a “stopper” for the intrepid souls trying to complete a Boltabest Tray Collection. You have been warned.
Allow me to quote Design Historian Jeffrey Head’s essay “Pattern Languages: The Artistic Legacy of Schiffer Prints” at length on the origins of this wonderful product:
“In 1949 Schiffer prints introduced its groundbreaking Stimulus Line of textiles, and with that came two innovations that continue to influence the industry today. First, Schiffer hired known artists, architects, and designers to create textile patterns and, secondly, they didn’t alter or modify those patterns for marketing or manufacturing reasons. Nor did Schiffer impose a theme or color palette. The results were dramatic—a variety of patterns, subject matter, and colors. “Unquestionably it is the most brilliant single collection of all modern prints introduced since the war,” declared the New York Times on June 22, 1949, when Schiffer Prints introduced the Stimulus designs at the Architectural League of New York.
“Among the textiles on display were patterns designed by Salvador Dalí, Ray Eames, George Nelson, Bernard Rudofsky, Abel Sorenson, and Edward J. Wormley—whose designs were shown on examples of Dun- bar Furniture. In addition, there were several George Nelson–designed Herman Miller pieces upholstered with Schiffer textiles that could be special ordered. The exhibition itself was designed by the Nelson office, namely by Irving Harper, who also created seven patterns for Schiffer and designed the company’s logo . . .
“ . . . The company quickly expanded the Stimulus line and continued to select artists and designers with no previous textile experience. Furniture designer Paul McCobb was added to the roster in 1950 and his Chain pattern was shown at the Good Design Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City the following year. Afterward, McCobb would go on to design textiles for other manufacturers, such as Maix and F. Schumacher and Company.
“Schiffer produced more than forty Stimulus patterns in different color combinations between 1949 and about 1962. Certain textiles were offered to architects and designers, with a different set of patterns created for retail customers. Schiffer fabrics were available across the country, from the J.L. Hudson’s Department Store in Detroit to W. and J. Sloane in New York, and for the trade at Clinton F. Peets in the Robertson design corridor in Los Angeles. In the only known television commercial for Stimulus textiles, New Orleans department store D.H. Holmes featured Schiffer Prints in an ad for draperies that aired in 1950. The Stimulus line received further distinction when architect Abel Sorenson specified his Schiffer designs for use in the United Nations Headquarters. According to George Nelson biographer, Stanley Abercombie, several Stimulus textiles were available in wallpaper versions from the Concord Wallpaper Company.
“Perhaps the most lasting, inventive use of Schiffer fabrics was in the serving trays produced by Bolta—part of the General Tire and Rubber Company—in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Manufacturers of plastic bowls, boxes, buckets, and trays for the food and hospitality industry (in addition to vinyl flooring, wall coverings, and upholstery), Bolta introduced its line of Tempo-Trays made with Stimulus textiles (the fabric was actually integrated into the lamination process) in 1956. The firm, also known as Boltabest, turned about a dozen patterns into trays, which were available in different colorways and in different shapes—oblong, oval, and round— and in sizes ranging from eight by ten inches to sixteen by twenty- two, with fourteen by eighteen inches being the most popular. In its advertisements Bolta touted the restaurant and cafeteria trays as the “first fashion-decorated trays. Created by the world’s most celebrated designers!” They were available through 1962 and can occasionally be found on the market today.”