As is hopefully obvious based on the last piece that I wrote, I LOVE the Trend Enterprises Stinky Stickers that were a mainstay of greeting card, stationary and school supply stores of the 80s. There is something so utterly perfect in the designs, a balance of simplicity and just enough of a flair and cartooning to the illustration style that both marks the decade and is sort of timeless. In this day and age where everything from the 80s is new again and vintage-style products relaunches are happening left and right, the Trend style is one of the things that seems to have missed the boat. Though the company is still going strong, they long since abandoned their beloved design aesthetic for a very (VERY) bland clipart style that bothers both my nostalgia loving sensibilities as well as the graphic designer in me.
So I was pretty dumbfounded a couple weeks ago when the very cool Reis O’Brien shared some pictures of a recent sticker purchase he’d made, and it appeared at first that there might be new Trend sticker designs that were amazingly true to their classic style.
As it turns out, these stickers were not released by Trend, but they are in fact one of the greatest homages to those amazing Stinky Stickers by a company called Everything Smells. I immediately picked up a full set and patiently waited the four days for them to make their way to become a part of my sticker collection. Holy crap, Danielle at Everything Smells nailed the aesthetic perfectly. The first batch of stickers she’s producing in this nostalgic series include five designs, a couple that re-imagine some classic Trend stickers (a Rainbow with a fresh rain scent and a Fresh Cut Grass sticker), and a few that fill in the gaps left by Trend (Cantaloupe, Fruity Cereal and Orange Soda.)
I chatted with Danielle a bit and it looks like this is just the beginning and I can’t wait to see what new designs and scents she decides to hit on next. I know I can think of a ton of stuff I’ve love to see in the Trend design (stuff like Lime, Pink Lemonade, Blackberry, Cucumber, Jalapeno, Roast Chicken, Grape Soda, Sausage, Green Pepper, the list literally goes on and on.) So if scratch and sniff stickers are your thing, I highly suggest heading over to Everything Smells and checking out their catalog. Tell Danielle Branded sent ya!
