Media Meditation #4: CBS & the "Gastro-typographical-assemblage"

Lou Dorfsman in 1982, at the “Gastrotypographicalassemblage” he created for the CBS cafeteria.


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I know, you're wondering, what the hell is the Gastrotypographicalassemblage? It does look like nonsense without spaces.






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Just watch the video that I came across:


The Kemistry Gallery is celebrating the work of legendary designer Lou Dorfsman, art director for the CBS network. The Kemistry Gallery's exhibition focuses on this most notable creation, the handmade wooden typographic wall.



Gastrotypographicalassemblage from christian carlsson on Vimeo.


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So where did this come from? Who made it? Why? How? & What's its course of history?
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The icon titled "Gastrotypographicalassemblage", was completed in the mid 1960s. The wall was in the CBS cafeteria that was conceived and designed by Lou Dorfsman, the legendary art director. The Gastro typographical assemblage, commonly referred to as “the wall,” is enormous; it's 33 feet in length, and 8 feet in height, 11 meters wide. Each letter was hand milled out of thick wood and pine, with a team of carpenters and sculptors set to work. In addition to words, it's dotted with food imagery, from sausages, to seltzer bottles, to loaves of bread. The piece uses custom type to display food-related words and objects. The wall contains more than 1,450 individual characters to converge into this design. Wow. I saw the video first, then read that 1,500 letters where used on one graphic display, on one wall. Pretty amazing for a wooden design in the 60's. The Gastrotypographicalassemblage icon is the first of its kind, a perfectly orchestrated collage.









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It graced the CBS cafeteria, for twenty years after its completion, the wall inspired all who saw it. It's future was called into question during the late 1980s after a change in leadership. The wall was removed from the cafeteria and, save a call from a building superintendent, Richard Spiro, the wall would have been lost forever. After receiving Spiro’s call, Lou Dorfsman called Nick Fasciano, a decorated designer, who rushed and collected the discarded panels. Fasciano took the panels to his Long Island home, where they sat in storage for more than 20 years, safe and dry, but slowly deteriorating.

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The Center for Design Study, became aware of the wall’s current state, aware of its potential destruction. The Center took responsibility over the wall, seeking to restore this magnificent piece to its original glory. However restoration is enormous. The letters were originally glued to the panels, and over time, they came loose. Many of the letters were damaged beyond repair. Fasciano, who created several sculptures for the wall, is working with a team of craftsmen to repair each letter by hand: stripping, sanding, patching, sealing, and repainting more than 1,450 letters. More than 25 percent of the letters were damaged beyond repair and must be completely re-milled. Then theres the sculptures and food objects. From the soup cans, to the seltzer bottles, each piece must be recreated by an artisan.

Here is a video from a CBS radio interview where Lou Dorfsman discusses the creation of the amazing Wall.

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To bring this all together, Dorfsman created a lifelong and timeless design, showing a magnitude of achievement. It represents an icon of design. The wall never ceases to excite the imagination. It represents one of the most arresting design creations ever to be seen.


This piece carves a niche for design history; we can understand the significance of its creation and conception. There are few pieces that can both represent typography and the spirit of design, and also illuminate a specific moment of history. It is not only an ambitious scale of achievement in art and graphic design, but it's also a symbol of the typographic mind that once was. The typographic mind is the mindset of American's in terms of being shaped to perceive media. That is, to be shaped to take in media most effectively through words and type. Today, we've evolved and have been shaped to perceive media through images.  This piece of art can illuminate thinking in a word-centered culture, and thinking in an image-centered culture. This piece in a way blends both cultures. These are the direct ideas of Neil Postman. Who stated,


"...the printed word had a monopoly on both attention and intellect, theres being no other means, besides oral tradition, to have access to public knowledge (60)."


This typographic piece of art is interesting to reflect back on this quote because it represents a piece of typography,  but its within the medium of a physical graphical image. An image that conveys intellect, besides oral tradition.