Tara: Then and Now, Here and There
Archives and Practices of the Experimental Design Bureau in Vilnius 1960s–1980s
Karolina Jakaitė/Deimantė Jasiulevičiūtė

“Tara”, Lithuanian for container or packaging, was a nickname given by artists working in the graphic design field for their place of employment, the Experimental Package Design Bureau, which was established in the early 1960s in Soviet-occupied Lithuania. It was related to the modernization processes, the growth of production, the increasing range of goods, the Soviet “Art for Everyday Life” programme, and the objectives of the Cold War. During its most productive period (between 1964 and 1984) the bureau employed more than fifty designers, who created the aesthetics for everyday products in Lithuania. The names of many of the designers have been lost, but on the back of intensive research by the editors, their work will be showcased in this comprehensive book. Its almost 350 illustrations guide us playfully through a glossary that serves to conceptualize Tara’s narratives, stories, and identities.

Karolina Jakaitė is a design historian, curator, and researcher at the Vilnius Academy of Arts Institute of Art Research; she is co-founder of the Dizaino Fondas initiative. Her recent curated exhibitions include Retrotopia: Design for Socialist Spaces (2023, Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin; chief curator, Claudia Banz). Deimantė Jasiulevičiūtė is a Lithuanian-born, Amsterdam-based graphic designer. Since graduating from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2018, her focus has been on research-based graphic design projects with a strong emphasis on collaborative practices.