The Aer Lingus Archive

I first became aware of the connection between Irish and Dutch design while studying in college. In 2017, I spent a year working at a digital agency in Rotterdam, which gave me the chance to experience the city’s design culture firsthand. What struck me most was how naturally design seemed to fit into everyday life. From public spaces to transport, design felt visible and valued.

The connection between Ireland and the Netherlands goes back much further. During the 1950s, close links between KLM and Aer Lingus created opportunities for Dutch designers to come to Ireland, at a time when the Irish design industry was still developing. Designers such as Jan de Fouw became important figures, contributing to commercial design and design education in Ireland.¹

Tim O’Neill of Sun Advertising was working on an Aer Lingus project at the time and had seen the quality of KLM’s design work. He recognised the contribution Dutch designers could make and reached out to the Netherlands. Gus Melai was one of the first Dutch designers to come to work in Ireland.²

He was followed by Jan de Fouw, Piet Sluis, Bert van Embden and Nick van Vliet, among others. They brought a modernist approach influenced by the Bauhaus and the emerging Swiss style. Clear typography, sans serif typefaces, structured grids and bold geometric forms became important elements of their work. Their influence could be seen in corporate identities, advertising and public information.

The exhibition at the National Print Museum, brings together examples of their work and considers their influence on Irish visual culture.

Linda King worked with Sara Smyth and Laura Ryan from the NLI's Prints and Drawings collection to research the Aer Lingus archive and uncover some of the stories behind this period of change in Irish design.

Speaking about the NLI collections, Linda King said:

'I am very grateful to the team at the National Library of Ireland for contributing to this exhibition and their commitment to sharing the national collection with the public. The NLI collection contains some of the earliest surviving examples of Irish aviation ephemera and I was able to include a number of Aer Lingus baggage stickers, souvenir bookmarks and a timetable, dating from the 1940s to 1950. These items are very rare and have greatly enhanced the narrative of the exhibition, enabling visitors to understand early attempts at branding the airline - and Ireland by extension - through design. 

Sara Smyth, Assistant Keeper I, Visual Collections said:

"Linda King approached us in September 2025 to start researching our Ephemera collections for items highlighting the  influences on the design for marketing materials for the early aviation companies in Ireland. We identified varied items in the collection such as posters, printed timetables, luggage labels and souvenirs from a time when air travel was a much more exclusive mode of travel. The library was delighted to be able to lend some original items for the exhibition, and our colleagues in ELP facilitated the exhibition through the loan of an exhibition case. The National Print Museum and the National Library of Ireland have an established relationship and it is exciting for us to see our collection reaching audiences beyond our walls."