Pink Flamingo Jukebox Poster

The pink lawn flamingo entered American suburbia in 1957, when designer Don Featherstone created a moulded-plastic pair for Union Products in Leominster, Massachusetts. With no live flamingo available to study, he worked from photographs, turning a tropical bird into something that could stand on metal legs beside a driveway, flowerbed or freshly cut lawn.

The timing suited post-war suburbia, where new houses could look remarkably alike and inexpensive garden ornaments offered an easy way to add personality. Flamingos were sold in pairs and eventually in the millions, shifting from cheerful yard decoration to a recognised piece of American pop-culture kitsch. That slightly absurd meeting of tropical fantasy and everyday suburban life is what gives the flamingo such a natural place in a 1950s Americana print.