A letter from Carl Dair to Jack Trevett, President of Cooper & Beatty May 11, 1951

This letter from designer Carl Dair to Jack Trevett, the new President of Cooper & Beatty, helps throw some light on a long-standing question regarding Dair’s early professional life; why would he leave a seemingly successful design studio in Montreal and move to Toronto? The Eveleigh-Dair studio had a roster of high-profile clients and their work had won numerous awards. They had recently taken on a third partner, Cossman, and were poised to become a full-service advertising agency. From all accounts Dair’s move was rather abrupt and took Eveleigh and Cossman by surprise.

In June 1950, W. E, ‘Jack’ Trevett became President of Cooper & Beatty. As well as being a skilled typographic designer, Trevett was a gifted promoter who, it would seem, didn’t waste any time in contacting Carl Dair, then the dean of Canadian typographers. Although this letter only reveals one side of their conversation, it appears that Trevett convinced Dair to move to Toronto and work with C&B (with, not for). The opportunity to be associated with a type shop of the caliber of C&B may have been irresistible for Dair. One of his first major projects was the creation of the Typographic Workshops held at C&B. A promising young designer named Allan Fleming was among the attendees in the first workshop. Throughout his life Dair used his own version of the classic Italic hand although in this letter he used a finer nib than in much of his later correspondence.

Dair bought a piece of land in Richvale, now part of Richmond Hill, just north of Toronto on which he built a modern house for his family and with a large studio behind the house. His new company, Design Workshop Ltd., began with two clients; Cooper & Beatty and The E. B. Eddy Company. E. B. Eddy was largely Dair’s account and the loss of such a major client was undoubtably a major blow to the Montreal studio. In this letter Dair also mentions “I have the necessary man” to handle the E. B. Eddy account. That man was Karl Rix. We have no information on Karl Rix.

Artifact Text

ced (mark)
ADVERTISING

May 11, 1951
Dear Jack:
The time has once again arrived when we should have another talk … this time to discuss details of how C&B can use me most effectively, how we should organize the set-up etc. There is no longer any doubt in my mind as to the advisability of the move! I have made arrangements whereby the bulk of the E. B. Eddy artwork will go with me, and I have the necessary man to handle the bulk of that work to leave my hands free for the many things I am planning to do at C&B. The question is whether you anticipate an early visit down here … or whether you’ll be in town the weekend of May 25–26. On that weekend, I plan to be in Toronto to see about some land to build on. Evenings will be free for discussion if you are available.
But if you are planning a trip here before, please advise me.
Sincerely
Carl