R. Stanton Avery is widely regarded as the father of the modern printing industry. His contributions to different types of label products & his innovations to production (the printing presses themselves) cannot be overlooked. In honor of what he was able to accomplish in his lifetime, we put together a top 10 list of fun-facts about the legend.
- The modern label was invented by Ray. Stanton Avery in 1935.
- He made the first self-adhesive label machine with a 100$ investment from his future wife & parts from a sewing machine and saber saw. I suppose a decent ROI is a great way to impress someone.
- His first prototype involved cutting holes in both sides of a cigar box & filling it with glue. He would then pull the paper through it to get the desired adhesive backing.
- He lived in a rented chicken coop & worked as a clerk to support himself through college. He also made money by printing dance programs and stationery on his father’s letter press.
- He is most notably given credit for inventing the resealable sticker.
- His business philosophies were known by his employees as Avery’s laws. One of the most memorable was “When you stop making mistakes, you’re in deep trouble.”
- The Avery house at Cal Tech was founded by him and has housed students and faculty over the years. This philanthropic effort into student housing may have something to do with the chicken coop.
- The original name of his adhesives company was “Kum Kleen Products” which eventually became Avery’s adhesives… which is a much catchier name. The company is now known as Avery Dennison after a merger.
- Avery actually dropped out of college for a year to live in China. Which is odd… no millionaire has ever dropped out of college before (Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Dell, … okay… I was kidding).
- The R. Stanton Avery pioneer award is still given every year to innovators in the print industry.
- Bonus (Too funny to not mention) – One of his business ventures was selling smoked Tahitian bananas. This business venture does not seem to have worked out too well, and probably would not have survived the depression like his label company managed to.