Gastrotypographicalassemblage lou dorfsman biography

1966 artwork by Lou Dorfsman

Gastrotypographicalassemblage (compound word: Gastro | typographical | assemblage) is a 35-by-8.5-foot (10.7 m × 2.6 m) work of art designed by Lou Dorfsman to decorate the cafeteria in Eero Saarinen's CBS Building on 52nd Street and Sixth Avenue, New York City, New York.

As the senior vice president and creative director for marketing communications and design for CBS, Dorfsman was responsible for all aspects of the building's graphics, designating the type, design, and spacing for wall clocks, elevator buttons, and elevator inspection stickers.^[1] He designed what he called Gastrotypographicalassemblage for the building's cafeteria, using varied typefaces to list all of the foods offered to patrons in hand-milled wood type.

The completed work was based on ideas conceived in the mid-1960s. The project was ultimately completed in 1966 with assistance from gra