Cornetto (Churchwarden) | 1930s

Cornetto (Churchwarden), Circa 1934, by Hugo Laubi

This striking modernist poster showcases a playful and geometric design for Cornetto pipe tobacco, featuring three stylised faces rendered in vibrant primary colours – yellow, blue, and red – appearing as circular forms along the right side of the composition. Each face displays a simplistic, line-drawn smile, creating a cheerful, almost cartoon-like quality. From each colourful face extends a long, thin black pipe stem that curves across the poster to connect with three black churchwarden pipe bowls arranged vertically on the left. Delicate wisps of grey smoke rise from each pipe, adding movement to the composition. The brand name "CORNETTO" appears in bold black lettering on a gently undulating tan band across the bottom of the poster. The design employs a minimalist colour palette against a clean, off-white background, exemplifying the modern Swiss graphic design approach of the period.

Cornetto was a premium Swiss pipe tobacco brand marketed during the interwar period of the 1930s, when pipe smoking represented sophistication and contemplative enjoyment. This advertisement specifically promotes churchwarden-style pipes, recognisable by their exceptionally long stems – a design dating back to the late 18th century. Known in Germany as "Lesepfeife" or "reading pipes," churchwardens were valued for keeping smoke away from the smoker's face and eyes while reading. The 1930s marked a significant period in Swiss graphic design history, with the country becoming an important centre for innovative visual communication as modernist design principles took hold. This poster exemplifies the transition occurring in Swiss advertising from traditional illustrative approaches toward more abstract, simplified forms that would later develop into the renowned International Typographic Style. The cheerful, anthropomorphised faces reflect the period's optimistic commercialism despite the economic challenges of the Depression era.

Hugo Laubi (1888-1959) was a prominent Swiss illustrator, painter and graphic artist who made significant contributions to the development of poster design in Switzerland. Born in Zurich, he received formal training in Munich and Paris before working as a graphic artist in London in 1911. In 1918, Laubi became the art director at the printing and lithography company Gebrüder Fretz in Zurich, where he designed over sixty posters throughout his career. In 1920, he expanded his horizons by travelling to Philadelphia and New York, experiences that likely influenced his artistic approach.