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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!
My daughter took me to a card making class in 2004.
I’ve always enjoyed crafts and thought this was fun.
I got started making my own cards and it’s become
a big part of my life. I hold a couple classes each
month and love to share my skills. Happy
Anniversary – best wishes for many more.
txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com
I spent the 70s and 80s in San Francisco – best city in the world! I started stamping in the late 90s but I was so bad at it especially with the background (aka large) stamps. I emailed HA and they recommended that I lay the stamp down and apply paper on top. Worked better but still not great…until the MISTI came along! Love the MMH kits (-: You all provide excellent customer service – Hello Debbie L! Happy Easter
Congratulations on your 45th anniversary. I started stamping in 1983 when my first job took me away from home and I’d write letters and decorate the envelopes with stamps. I still have a few of my first purchases…a calligraphy style “To” and “From” set by your company and a “To” and “From” set with a man on an island and a message in a bottle from an old stamp company called All Night Media.
Happy Anniversary! I remember having some my little pony stamps when I was little, but I didn’t start getting into stamping until I was getting married 20 years ago. I remember stamping on the placecards for our wedding, and I couldn’t figure out why the ink was still wet. Then I learned there was a difference between embossing ink and dye ink. I was trying to dry the placecards in the motel room with a hairdryer the night before the wedding! I’ve learned so much since then!
Growing up in Sonoma (all you HA folks know where that is!), I remember my grandma bringing me a small kit of four cat stamps, back in about ’79 that she had picked up for me. I stamped with it all summer and thought I was so creative! Fast forward about 20 years, and having a young family of my own. School art projects were a big thing and I had already been scrapbooking—stamping became a natural extension of it—eventually supplanting the scrapbook! I love, love, love stamps and Hero Arts has some of the best!