The Archaeology of Wanderlust: Jonny Trunk and Fuel Design Unearth Forgotten Graphic Treasures in Holiday Exotica

Main Facts

In an era dominated by hyper-slick, algorithmically generated travel imagery and glossy Instagram feeds, a new book invites design enthusiasts and nostalgic travelers alike to take a journey backward through time. Holiday Exotica, the latest publishing venture by author, archivist, and design sleuth Jonny Trunk—realized in collaboration with the renowned creative agency Fuel Design—serves as a dazzling visual compendium of mid-century travel ephemera.

At its core, the book is a curated archive of long-forgotten travel brochures, fold-out maps, regional leaflets, and airline pamphlets spanning the mid-20th century. Far from a conventional coffee-table photo book, Holiday Exotica offers a deep-dive exploration into commercial graphic design history. It highlights an era when striking color palettes, hand-drawn typography, daringly sparse layouts, and idiosyncratic photographic styles were employed to sell the dream of escape.

Sourced largely from antique markets, dusty car boot sales, and forgotten institutional archives, the featured materials cover a vast geographical footprint. From international holiday campaigns and exotic airline advertisements to domestic tourism drives for British destinations like Yorkshire, Camber Sands, and the Lake District, the book chronicles how mid-century designers visually communicated the promise of leisure. Published by Fuel Design, the volume operates simultaneously as a historical rescue mission and a rich visual sourcebook, proving that the foundational desires underpinning travel marketing—sunshine, relaxation, adventure, and escapism—have remained remarkably constant, even if the tools used to produce them have radically transformed.

Chronology: From Spitalfields Market to the Printed Page

The genesis of Holiday Exotica reads like a classic collector’s tale, unfolding over several years through chance encounters, dusty bins, and meticulous curation.

The Spark: The 1960s Lake District Map (Late 2010s)

The project began without a formal roadmap. Jonny Trunk, known for unearthing eccentric corners of British visual culture, stumbled across a 1960s map of the Lake District at London’s famed Spitalfields Market. Struck by the map’s pared-back aesthetic, characterized by cut-out paper graphics and restrained color blocking, Trunk recognized a fertile and largely overlooked terrain in graphic design history: the disposable ephemera of tourism.

The Hunt and Accumulation (2020–2024)

Realizing that travel brochures, local council pamphlets, and vintage coach tour leaflets were disappearing from public consciousness due to their ephemeral nature, Trunk embarked on a sustained collecting campaign. He scoured antique fairs, private collections, and specialist paper dealers across the United Kingdom and Europe. Unlike stamp collecting or fine art acquisition, hunting for mid-century travel ephemera required patience, as most of these items were printed cheaply, read once, and discarded.

Curation and Collaboration with Fuel Design (2024–2025)

As Trunk’s archive swelled, the sheer volume of material necessitated a professional editorial and design framework. He partnered with Fuel Design—continuing a successful collaborative relationship that previously produced celebrated archival projects like Auto Erotica. The Fuel team sorted through hundreds of fragments, photographs, and booklets. They made the difficult editorial decisions required to distill a chaotic mountain of paper into a cohesive narrative, ultimately selecting the most visually arresting spreads while discarding material that failed to meet the book’s high aesthetic bar.

Publication and Release (Late 2026)

Holiday Exotica officially launched via Fuel Design, making its way into the hands of contemporary graphic designers, vintage enthusiasts, and design historians worldwide. The release marked another milestone in Trunk’s ongoing mission to preserve the overlooked crumbs of modern material culture.

Supporting Data & Standout Artifacts

While the overarching theme of Holiday Exotica is mid-century commercial travel marketing, the strength of the book lies in the micro-details of its curation. Trunk and Fuel Design have organized the collection to highlight regional diversity, typographical experimentation, and minimalist brilliance.

Key Archival Highlights

• The 1960s Pompeii Plan: Described by Trunk as "a masterpiece of simplicity and tragedy," this minimalist visitor plan strips an ancient archaeological site down to its starkest geometric lines, achieving profound emotional resonance through restraint.
• Climbing in Cornwall: A breath-taking promotional piece from the 1960s that relies on a single, powerful photograph balanced against a two-color palette and deft typographic placement. Trunk notes of the piece: "One photo, two colours, three worlds, bingo."
• Shetland Stained-Glass Artwork: A rare regional brochure utilizing an unconventional, church-window-inspired illustrative style to convey the rugged beauty of the Scottish archipelago.
• Domestic British Tourism: The collection gives equal weight to international getaways and the earnest, sometimes desperate marketing campaigns aimed at convincing holidaymakers to brave the weather for a coach tour to Scotland, a weekend in Camber Sands, or a rainy retreat in Yorkshire.

Production and Design Specifications

• Format & Scale: Published as a large-format hardcover, the book allows readers to appreciate the fine details of screen-printed textures, halftone photographic errors, and hand-lettered mastheads.
• Visual Variety: The contents span brochures from major commercial airlines—reflecting an era when air travel was considered glamorous, novel, and exclusive—alongside car rental pamphlets, national tourist board guides, and municipal promotional booklets.
• Scarcity: A significant portion of the material featured in Holiday Exotica exists in single-digit quantities globally, having survived decades in attics and archives purely by chance.

Official Responses and Perspectives

Jonny Trunk on the Allure of the Forgotten

In interviews surrounding the launch of Holiday Exotica, Jonny Trunk has articulated his fascination with the margins of commercial design. Rather than focusing on iconic corporate branding icons, Trunk is drawn to the anonymous illustrators and regional printers who produced work under tight constraints.

"The main thrust of the idea was to find something a little unusual or unexpected—odd photographic styles, strange hand-drawn fonts, daring sparseness," Trunk explains. "Most of them are undocumented and pretty much forgotten. They cover a fascinating breadth of styles and ideas in odd combinations. This for me was a really interesting graphic world to explore."

Trunk also reflects on the romance of travel during the mid-20th century, noting a distinct cultural shift in how journeys were perceived and marketed:

"I think the airline material is all very cool—and flying was very cool back in the 1960s and 1970s. I like a lot of the English holiday brochures, with graphic ideas and photos straining to sell you a holiday here in Yorkshire. Or Camber Sands. Or on a coach to Scotland."

The Philosophy of "Graphic Food"

Trunk views his publishing projects not merely as nostalgic retrospectives, but as functional resources for the modern creative community. Drawing a parallel to basic human sustenance, he characterizes his archival books as nourishment for an industry perpetually searching for fresh ideas.

"Every graphic book I’ve made with Fuel [including Auto Erotica] I see very much as food," Trunk states. "I think the graphic design world is a constantly hungry one, and these books supply a load of exciting, fresh and unseen graphic food."

Implications for Contemporary Design and Culture

• The Endurance of Visual Grammar: One of the most striking realizations emerging from Holiday Exotica is how little the fundamental psychology of travel advertising has shifted over the decades. Whether selling a 1960s package holiday to the Mediterranean or a modern eco-resort, the core narrative remains identical. As Trunk observes: "The visual grammar for these kinds of brochures hasn’t really changed since the earliest days of travel brochures—they are all selling you sunshine, sex, fun, relaxation and memories, just like today."
• The Analog Advantage in a Digital Age: The book arrives at a time when contemporary designers are increasingly fatigued by vector perfection and uniform digital aesthetics. The handmade quirks, imperfect printing alignment, bold color blocks, and idiosyncratic typography of mid-century ephemera offer a masterclass in human-centric design. By looking back at how creators worked without modern graphic software—where every layout decision, crop, and headline had to be meticulously calculated by hand—today’s designers can discover new avenues for creative expression.
• Preserving the Ephemeral: Holiday Exotica underscores the cultural importance of preserving everyday ephemera. While museums traditionally prioritize fine art and high-value artifacts, books like Trunk’s demonstrate that the flyers, maps, and tourist brochures left behind by ordinary people provide an equally valuable window into the social aspirations, economic shifts, and aesthetic values of a bygone era.