Canadian Skill – print ad, E. B. Eddy, Carl Dair, 1949

This was the first in a series of six advertisements created for The E. B. Eddy Company by the Harold F. Stanfield ad agency, in collaboration with the Eveleigh-Dair studio in Montreal. Carl Dair handled the design and typography for the full series, which paid tribute to defining qualities of Canadian character: skill, courage, far-sightedness, patience, resourcefulness, and stability.

Each ad featured a bold, saturated background colour – uncommon in print advertising at the time – paired with striking compositions that fused modernist typography and hand lettering. The approach was distinctive and quietly ambitious, elevating corporate messaging into something more expressive and reflective of a national mood in the postwar period.

The series earned recognition at the Second Annual Toronto Art Directors Club Show in 1950, winning an award for magazine advertising. Note that the ad is signed ‘e/d’ in the lower right corner, a fairly common practise at the time. – Rod McDonald

Artifact Text

Canadian skill The skilled hands of Canadians … machinists, die-makers, surgeons doing the bidding of trained and imaginative minds, have made Canadian goods and services respected throughout the world. The E. B. Eddy Company takes justifiable pride in the achievements of the Canadians in its mills whose skill is devoted to the manufacture of quality papers. The E. B. Eddy Company Paper Makers, Hull, Canada