Peter Buchanan-Smith

Peter Buchanan-Smith (b. 1972) is a designer, teacher, entrepreneur, and the founder of Best Made Co., a company that develops artisanal tools and adventure products.

Work

Buchanan-Smith’s career is rooted in graphic design. He is principal of the New York City-based firm Buchanan-Smith LLC, which produces branding, packaging, and identities. He has been the design director for Isaac Mizrahi's fashion house and has collaborated with Maira Kalman, with whom he designed the illustrated re-issue of Strunk & White’s classic grammar text, The Elements of Style. Buchanan-Smith also worked at The New York Times, where he was art director of the Op-Ed page for September 11, 2001, and Paper magazine, where he was creative director from 2005 to 2008.

Style

Clear and expressive, Buchanan-Smith’s work has often been referenced by other designers, and has been featured in The New York Times, I.D. magazine and the AIGA’s Fresh Dialogue Four: New Voices in Graphic Design. In 2005, he was awarded a Grammy for the design of Wilco’s best-selling album A Ghost is Born.

Themes

In his work, Buchanan-Smith has often explored the relationships between people and objects, also drawing attention to the value of the everyday and the nature of luxury.^[1] His M.F.A. thesis in graphic design was developed into a book published in 2001 by Princeton Architectural Press: Speck: A Curious Collection of Uncommon Things.^[2] The first product he designed for Best Made Co. was a collection of functional axes decorated in a scheme of colorful spots and stripes; acquired by foresters and collectors (including David Lynch), the axes have been exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery in London.^[3]

References

External links

• www.buchanansmith.com
• www.bestmadeco.com
• Peter Buchanan-Smith lectures at the Walker Art Center