The Platinum Egg 1988: Ove Pihl.
Ove Pihl was born in 1938 and grew up in a boisterous restaurant kitchen, which gave him an enduring appetite for life. His father owned Waxholms Hotell, and there among the shallots, the shellfish, the Martinis (shaken not stirred) and the exotic sauces, he nourished dreams of the wider world. To please his mother, Ove joined the Stockholm Boy’s Choir, going on tour in Germany as a 13 year old and singing of hope in bombed-out churches.... He continued his journey out into a wider world through well-thumbed copies of Life, McCall’s and Collier’s. After a stint at Beckmans advertising school, Ove ended up in New York at the School of Visual Arts, where he studied under Milton Glaser. There, in the Big Apple, he won his first advertising award in 1963. Now it was time to bring the wider world back home to the Swedish ad world. Via Ervaco, Ove came to Arbmans in 1968, boldly producing full page ads that led with a firm American handshake. His work for Gulf was trend-setting, holding up the petrol station as a celebration of life, family and safety on the roads. In 1971, he founded Falk & Partners along with Lars Falk and Lars “Fille” Hansson. Multi-award-winning campaigns for Upplandsbanken, Pommac and the publisher Forum followed. After a lunch at Operabaren in 1975, Ove and Lasse Falk opened Falk & Pihl. Their work for the Swedish Potato Producers’ Association is a classic. Every unnecessary detail is stripped away (naturally) and the potato is presented clearly, proudly, honestly. Their work for Scan, Tor Line, Mölnlycke, Salvekvick and SAAB also won acclaim. The photographers of choice were usually Janne Bengtsson, Tomas Ringqvist and Tony Landberg. In 1977, Ove, Kjell Peterson and Lars Falk designed and produced Sweden’s first modern cookbook, “Carl Butlers Kokbok”. The publisher they created, Atlantis, became their baby. Pihl & Falk was sold to their old idols, Doyle Dane Bernbach of New York, in 1983. And thus the circle was complete.
After the Platinum Egg: Ove Pihl is unusual among creatives in being one of the few who is also a true businessman. In 1990, he founded Page One Publishing, which has designed and sold five million books in seven languages. Today he is a successful artist.