When Richard Brayton and Stanford Hughes got together to establish BraytonHughes Design Studios thirty years ago, a cultural shift and major innovations were happening. The Soviet Union collapsed, the Hubble telescope took its first observations of the planet Jupiter, and the very first web page was created, changing our lives forever! Amidst these world events and advances in knowledge, BraytonHughes Design Studios was launching in San Francisco.
With these 10 noteworthy moments in history, we hope you enjoy this look back to the year of our founding, 1991, a time when:
The Melchor Investment Company, Palo Alto
1. Brayton Hughes Design Studios completed its first project, offices for The Melchor Investment Company in Palo Alto. In a building that once housed a glass factory, Stanford and Richard created interiors that honored the building’s original industrial character.
2. The World Wide Web was launched to the public, with instructions on how to use it. We owe the ease with which we retrieve and share information online to British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee.
3. Disney released Beauty and the Beast, the first animated film ever nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
4. The MP3 file format was accepted as a standard.
5. 60 Minutes was the most popular TV show, Terminator 2: Judgment Day was the highest-grossing film, and A Thousand Acres was the best-selling book.
6. The “Grunge Revolution” began, and Nirvana’s Nevermind became one of the most popular albums of the decade, selling 11 million copies in the U.S.
7. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System launched in the U.S., marking Nintendo’s entry into the 16-bit console market.
8. In San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Park, a free concert called “Laughter, Love and Music” was held to honor the memory of promoter Bill Graham (January 8, 1931 – October 25, 1991), who died in a helicopter crash ten days earlier. Approximately 300,000 fans made their way to the park’s polo grounds to hear performances from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Grateful Dead, Journey, Santana, and more. “I haven’t seen this field this full since we tried to stop the Vietnam War,” Crosby said.
9. A passed referendum in South Africa supported creation of a new constitution for multicultural society, bringing an end to Apartheid.
10. People Magazine named Patrick Swayze the “Sexiest Man Alive.”
There have been many high points in our thirty years as a firm, and we’re grateful to our amazing founders, clients, partners, and committed team members for being a part of this journey.