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Flashback Friday Part 1: The 1970s
Hero Arts
Hero Arts is celebrating 45 years in business this year! What an incredible journey it has been. YOU are a wonderful part of our history, and now that our anniversary is here, we'd like to invite you to celebrate this milestone alongside us! In the next several weeks, join us for fun, contests, behind-the-scenes content, lots of giveaways, new products, and more. Let's get this party started, friends!
The start of it all? Flashback Fridays. Over the course of five Fridays, we'll be sharing the story of our five decades as a company.
The setting: Berkeley, California, mid-1970s. Let's hear about the earliest days of Hero Arts from our CEO, Aaron Leventhal:
"Hero Arts was founded in May of 1974, near the end of the school year, when my mother (Jackie) decided she would try out her hobby at local craft fairs. Early designs included funky cartoon images, irreverent messages, and drawings from friends and family, including Betty Boop, cartoon monkeys, a cow by 4 year-old Aaron, and more. Most of the stamps were handmade in our bathroom, where our vulcanizer sat, that pressed rubber. The rubber was then cut and assembled in Jackie's bedroom, before being sent out via mail or sold at fairs."
Wondering what the first catalogs looked like? Well, they were actually fold-out posters...
Here's a closer look at the inside and back of the 1978 Hero Arts product poster.
Aaron even found this photo showing an early craft show booth from the late 1970s!
If you're interested in hearing more of the Hero Arts story, grab a beverage and enjoy this interview from a few years ago, when Aaron sat down for an Online Card Classes Crafty Chat. We think you'll enjoy hearing this story directly from him!
When did you start stamping? Let us know in a comment below and we will pick one winner at random to receive a $25 Hero Arts gift card! Comment by Thursday, April 25 at 11:59pm PT and you'll be entered to win.
Tomorrow we'll begin sharing peeks from our upcoming 45th Anniversary Summer Catalog! That's right, this year's Summer Catalog is one big anniversary celebration that we can't wait to share with you.
Thank you for joining us today!
I start stamping in the early 90’s. I walked in to a local stamping store and was in awe of all the beautiful hand made cards. I was hooked and started making all the Christmas cards every year since then.
I started stamping about 27 years ago. I am a letter writer (hand written letters) to friends and I always wanted to decorate my envelopes somehow, but didn’t know how. I had seen stamps, but was hesitant. I went to a flea market with my mom and a vendor was selling dozens of stamps. I went wild and from then on I have been addicted…..oops….a stamper. ha-ha Hero Arts was one of my first and favorites. Still is.
I can not remember when I was not crafting. But I began stamping about 15 years ago at my first Stamp In Up party. Have been addicted since
I totally forgot to say that I love this looking back to the history and glad you still have a lot things from the early days to share with us.
Congratulations on the 45 Aniversary. What a great interview, thank you for that Aaron, what a great story and a awesome lady was your mam.
I started stamping when I was quite young, I had older sisters and brothers and they had stamps that I used. But I think I was 8 years or so, I then received a special stamp box called Newspapers. The box had all small rubber letter stamps that you could slide into a special control slot and create your own words and sentences. This way you stamped your own newspaper messages. At the same time, I received all kinds of small stamps from flowers and butterflies in order to be able to make entire stories with pictures. All stamps were made of rubber at the time. I stamped a lot with that box. Now more than 50 years later I still love stamping.