-
Products
Menu
-
Products
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!
What an awesome look back! It’d be so cool to bring back some of those original stamps too! Can’t wait to see what will happen over the course of the next 5 Fridays! :) I started stamping when I was about 8 or 9 years old with my mom. Actually still have some of those wood mounted stamps many (many) years later! LOL
I started stamping in the very early 80’s as a bored tween on summer vacation. The moms in the neighborhood signed a bunch of us girls up for a free crafts afternoon at our local library. I told my mom it was going to be stupid and I was going to hate it. The only thing I now remember is coming home with a hot pink bookmark that I stamped a cartoony bird on. I was hooked.
My stamping days only just began about a year ago, in early summer of 2018…and, my how I should have tried this ages ago! I always remembered seeing the wooden stamps in craft stores, and wondered what folks did with them, but never checked them out or met anyone that used them (to my knowledge). I just love all the possibilities and endless options with stamping.