The RadioFlavia brand was founded by The Archivea Guild of Lugano, Switzerland.  RadioFlavia is a member of the non profit Swiss association based on the lake of Lugano adjacent to Villa Castagnola in Ticino. 

We broadcast on the web and operate our music and art collecting activities from our Swiss base.

I am Rick Weedn, the founder of The Archivea Guild. I grew up in Los Angeles when we still had street cars and electric buses, Hollywood still had its magic and I found great joy in simple hidden treasures. My mother was a tap dancer  and painter and my dad was a night club crooner and Hollywood cowboy bit player. My grandfather was a fight promoter at the “Olympic Auditorium” and mystery writer nicknamed “The Senator”. My grandmother was a doll maker, costume maker, factory worker, shopkeeper and overall angel. She was one in a million and my teacher when I was 5. What a life it was in the late 50’s and early 60’s in South LA for this kid.

Mom had an unusual name, “Flavia” and as a dancer, painter and writer she gained inspiration for her paintings and poetry from a shelf of Goodwill bought books and records. The books were of old photos of NYC and Europe.  Hoagy Carmichael was a staple in our home. Jazz and Swing mixed with The American Songbook and all were ever present in the front room of our tiny Huntington Park bungalow.  One of mom’s earliest paintings was of a couple looking into a travel agency window. That painting hit home for me.

I used to dive into moms books and get lost with her music and all the images of far away places with strange sounding names. Dad used to sing me “Streets of Laredo” to put me to sleep. Our neighbours were Cuban and Puerto Rican so we had the full spectrum of tunes and culture filling the air. Later mom and dad were becoming successful in America and annual trips to NYC from my 12th birthday forward built up my passion for all the unusual eccentricity of the time. In NYC we would walk everywhere and I could see and hear the music scene from my sidewalk paces. This NYC jumping off point lead to Europe travels from my 18th year till now.  I was hooked on world music, film and art.

After a lifetime of publishing imagery, I now live in many of those far away places I dreamed of in my childhood. Starting from my base in Lisbon and our Studio in Lugano I travel much of my time.

Today I search forgotten archives, libraries and museums’ treasures to reproduce as art or music or video. 

RadioFlavia is dedicated to music and imagery from the 1930’s through the 1970’s. These were from places and times that both my mom and dad introduced me to as a kid. Over my lifetime I have built up an archive from these memories. So here on this site you can soon enjoy or acquire handmade prints or vintage CD’s and Vinyl or artifacts from our collections.

We only sell some of our photographs, produced music and posters from Switzerland to Switzerland and specific export countries including UK, Germany,  and Japan given rights restrictions.

Our general collection of vintage posters, used music, books and merch are sold globally.

The fruits of my labor are here among these pages. I hope you enjoy our site as much as we enjoy this life of discovering all of these artifacts - Thank you for visiting.

email me here Richard Weedn .