The famous ‘Dowel Spine’ jacket construction originates from France in the early 1950’s.  We have always had a deep fascination for French classical LPs, they have a certain mystique which sets them apart from all other LPs of the era.  This extends to the creativity in jacket construction and use of materials.  Some of the best examples where produced by French HMV ‘La Voix de son Maitre’.  In the case of the Yvonne Lefébure Bach piano recital (FBLP 1079), HMV France engaged the services of the design house ‘Atelier Cassandre’ for the typographical artwork creation (Adolphe Mouron Cassandre went on to design the iconic Yves Saint Laurent logo). This combination resulted in some of the finest LP jackets ever produced, both tactile and visually stunning.

We took on the challenge to re-create this classic LP jacket having already conducted a few months of research and development in selecting materials and construction processes to remain faithful to the original 1950’s French style.  The resulting prototype you see below uses a timber frame construction, dyed dowel spine with a black PVC wrap.

fig 1. Original dowel spine (inner sleeve)

fig 2. Dowel spine recreated (new inner sleeve)

fig. 3 Original timber frame construction (jacket)

fig. 4 Timber frame construction recreated (jacket)

fig. 5 Original jacket close up

fig. 6 Original jacket and record

fig. 7 Original and recreation together

fig. 8 Booklet