The California Collection is a series of three-dimensional fruit crate labels and art jewelry bracelets with social and political commentary. The primary material is recycled tin cans. The images depicted by the post consumer materials and their repurposing reflect California’s identity as both a leader in the recycling movement and prime example of consumer culture. All work is a political and social commentary.
Fruit crate labels emerged in the United States in the 1880s, as California's citrus and produce industries expanded rapidly and growers needed a way to distinguish their goods in distant markets. Wooden crates used to ship oranges, lemons, apples, and other produce across the country were stamped or pasted with colorful paper labels on the end panels, visible when crates were stacked at auction houses and grocers.
These labels served a practical purpose: buyers at wholesale markets couldn't taste or inspect the fruit itself, so the label became the grower's pitch, a way to signal quality, origin, and brand identity at a glance. Packing houses and cooperatives commissioned commercial artists and lithographers to design them.
By the early 20th century, label production had become a specialized industry centered in California, with printers in San Francisco producing thousands of distinct designs.
Stylistically, the labels drew on whatever visual language sold best. Many leaned into idealized, romanticized imagery, sunlit groves, Spanish missions, Native American figures, and pastoral scenes meant to evoke abundance and wholesomeness. Others used bold graphic type, cartoon mascots, or patriotic and nostalgic themes. The labels are now widely recognized as an early and influential form of American commercial art and branding, predating much of modern packaging design.
The golden age of the fruit crate label ran roughly from the 1880s through the 1950s.
Each fruit crate label below is inspired by a vintage fruit label redesigned and reinvented as a three dimensional reconstruction.
The fruit crate is fabricated from kiln dried wood to look like an genuine fruit crate, but be acceptable for display in a museum context.
Each and every bracelet relates to the fruit crate and is a reference to a California product.
Click on each image for more information
Fruit crate labels were actually invented by California growers as an early 20th century promotion for California produce. They symbolize California’s agricultural industry of fruits and vegetables, that now bloom with inventions and technology ventures.
Bermaid is a signature identity for the artist's name Berman. It is used on most of the fruit crate labels with as a feature of the label or smaller in the bottom right hand corner. Bermaid is a play on words. First, the artist's name – Berman – is not a very good name for a feminist. Using “maid” instead of “man” indicates the artist is a woman and is a pun on “made”, as in made by hand.
