https://blog.thecurrent.org/2019/07/designer-laura-lipuma-nash-talks-directing-princes-iconic-album-packages-from-purple-rain-to-lovesexy/

"I was kind of the new kid on the block," she said. "One day, the boss comes running into the art room and he's in a panic." The members of the art department were all out to lunch at this point, she explained, and Nash just happened to stay behind. "He goes, 'Oh my God, you're the only one here? I'm going to have to send you to meet with Prince.'"

Prince was in the midst of shooting the When Doves Cry video, and in need of someone immediately, Nash remembered, to help with the single cover. "I was so intimidated, I honestly don't have the greatest recall about that meeting," she said. After their first serendipitous encounter, Nash would go on to art direct all of Prince's album packages from Purple Rain throughLovesexy, in addition to all other Paisley Park releases. "Any artist connected with Prince through Warner Bros., he put me on," Nash said.

...

"I took this orange — they were called 'china markers' — and I did my own interpretation of the symbol and blew it up," Nash remembered. That symbol appeared in promotional materials for the album, and after the Purple Rain era ended, she assumed it would be put to rest.

https://theiconicprince.w...puma-nash/

That led her eventually to Los Angeles (where she stayed with Uncle Tommy for a while) and Warner Bros. Records.

"I was hired in 1982," she said. "I was the new kid on the block, the new designer, and still in my 20s.

"My favorite artist, by the way, was Prince, and I was thinking, 'Maybe he'll come into the office.' He'd released '1999' and it was soaring up the charts, and everyone was realizing this guy was on this major ascension."

Nash's first job as a designer for Prince was working up a design for one of the singles off that album (hey, they used to do that, in the days before downloads and streaming).

"I'd never met him, and I'm getting to put together the single," Nash said, reminiscing about her good fortune.

"Suddenly, we get word that he's going to come out with this album, 'Purple Rain,' " she said.

"One day — and I'll never forget it — right before lunch, at about 11:30, my boss at the time came in with this look of panic on his face. It was a big art room, lots of desks and T-squares, and he came running in and looking around and going, 'Where is everybody?'

"I look up and say, 'Everybody went to lunch,' and he said, 'Prince just called and you gotta go meet him. He wants an art meeting, and it's gotta happen NOW!' "

Talk about a merger of joy and abject terror.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing," she said. "I had to go meet with him when he was shooting the video for 'When Doves Cry.'

"I met with him, and I was so altered that I don't have that much memory of it," said Nash, who added that the artist always had a thing for the Hostess snack treat Ding Dongs.

"He was magnetic, compelling, intimidating, ALWAYS smelled good," she said.

As you might expect if you've read about the soft-spoken artist's penchant for control, Nash said the meeting and the video shoot and the photo session "were like a military operation — it was very structured."

For whatever reason, a bond formed.

"From that point on, through 'Lovesexy,' I did every release for Prince from 1984 through 1988," she said. "It just jelled."

Thanks!

https://www.cleveland.com...urple.html

https://eu.tennessean.com.../83340932/

On a related note: https://www.typenetwork.c...-alchemist

OldFriends4Sale said:

nelcp777 said:

Pardon my ignorance, what is CRF?

.

What is a google?

From https://acronyms.thefreed...ry.com/CRF I paste for everyone's convenience except the guy that pays for diskspace:

** a little kindness today please, that was too much lol nelcp777 did ask me directly and I like looking into this stuff and discussing it so I don't mind ** -Of4$

nelcp777 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Pardon my ignorance, what is CRF?

I'm going to assume CRF is a place in California

interesting piece though

12.26.1985 Laura DiPuma to bring (Parade?)prints after he lands

6:00 hair appointment with Earl Jones

8:00 Sunset Sound studio time: Can I Play With U? A Couple of Miles

12.28.1985 Flesh Session pt 1

bsprout said:

Good read, thanks. I never heard of her before.

She caught my attention when her name was attached to this painting in 1985 when I ripped the plastic off and opened up ATWIAD

OldFriends4Sale said:

Always thought of her as the Prince designer in those initial 80's-getting-obsessed-and-reading-all-the-credits years. I was first disapointed by the Batman design (too simple for me, but I guess it makes sense to not brand it as a Prince album for all the potential new market that was not into Prince's image), but then Graffiti Bridge really didn't seem up to par design-wise to me. And that continued until maybe "Rainbow Children". But she was gone by the time of "Graffiti Bridge", right?

ufoclub said:

Always thought of her as the Prince designer in those initial 80's-getting-obsessed-and-reading-all-the-credits years. I was first disapointed by the Batman design (too simple for me, but I guess it makes sense to not brand it as a Prince album for all the potential new market that was not into Prince's image), but then Graffiti Bridge really didn't seem up to par design-wise to me. And that continued until maybe "Rainbow Children". But she was gone by the time of "Graffiti Bridge", right?

Yes, Purple Rain - Lovesexy

nelcp777 said:

My question was related to Prince’s note. I asked Old because they may have insight related to CRF in the note, not some generic google search with numerous unrelated meanings. No need to be rude.

CRF = Cavallo Ruffalo & Fargnoli, Prince's management team at that time.

phuzzybear said:

nelcp777 said:

My question was related to Prince’s note. I asked Old because they may have insight related to CRF in the note, not some generic google search with numerous unrelated meanings. No need to be rude.

CRF = Cavallo Ruffalo & Fargnoli, Prince's management team at that time.

LOL NICE!!!

phuzzybear said: