67 Main Street, San Francisco, CA
The Velvetone Poster Company was founded in the early 1910s by Frank Ottokar Brant located in San Francisco, CA. Velvetone Poster Company were recognized as one of the first establishments to use the ancient art of silk-screen stenciling to mass-produce multi-colored posters, signs, and large scale advertising displays such as billboards.
They produced vibrant, highly collectible store displays and banners for major brands, most notably Levi Strauss & Company, Chevron Standard Oil Company, Amoco Oil, General Motors, and Oldsmobile. Velvetone employed prominent California artists and illustrators as art directors, such as Louis Macouillard and Maurice Logan just to name a few.
It is unknown when the company went out of business or if there was a merger, but it seems they were producing velvetone banners and signs all the way into the 1960’s. The original office headquarters and manufacturing building is no longer stand.
Below are a few examples of Velvetone relics:
