For the greeting card company Gartner & Bender and their exhibition The Artist in Social Communication, George Nelson and Irving Harper designed the exhibition system StrucTube, which was then produced by the Affiliated Tool and Machine Company. Presented in Chicago in January 1948, this exhibition system was an important predecessor for the spatial designs of later exhibition stands of the Nelson office, as well as shelving systems like OMNI and CSS.
The scaffolding consisted of three elements: ground plates with attached vertical pipes and horizontal tubes that could be inserted through holes in a keyhole shape (broad above, narrowing at the bottom) in the vertical tubes. In each vertical tube there were three holes, 120 degrees apart. The information tables made of aluminum sheeting with the dimensions 30" by 40" could be hung on plastic ribbons with a snap to the vertical pipes. The scaffolding could be dismantled and assembled without any tools, was made completely of easy-to-transport aluminum, and could be stored in a handy flat box.
