Posts Tagged ‘Raymond Loewy’
“Successful design is not the achievement of perfection but the minimization and accommodation of imperfection”*…
click here for larger version
From legendary designer Raymond Loewy [see here], a chart published in 1934 that shows the evolution in design of items such as cars, telephones, stemware, railcars, clocks, and women’s apparel. Loewy was known was “The Father of Streamlining” and these drawings very much reflect his design style. (via @michaelbierut)
Explore at: “Raymond Loewy’s 1934 chart of the evolution in design.”
Then check out MacRae Linton’s conversion of Loewy’s chart into a proper timeline.
* Henry Petroski
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As we contemplate craft, we might recall that it was on this date in 1942 that music industry insiders Johnny Mercer, Buddy DeSylva, and Glenn E. Wallichs founded Capitol Records. By 1946, Capitol had sold 42 million records by artists including (Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, and Kay Starr) and was established as one of the “Big Six” record labels.
In 1955, Capitol became a subsidiary of British label EMI and began construction on a new headquarters building designed by Lou Naidorf. Known as “the House the Nat Built” (as Nat King Cole was the label’s steady sales leader), it was the first circular office building in the world.
Capitol, which had an output deal with its UK parent, built on their early 60s success with the Beach Boys by acquiring the Beatles record rights in the U.S. (though they passed on other EMI acts like the Dave Clark Five, Gerry & the Pacemakers, the Hollies, the Swinging Blue Jeans, The Yardbirds, and Manfred Mann).
It’s all there in black and white…
Allister Lee, proprietor of Toronto design house Studio B.I.B. (Black is Beautiful), has committed himself to building the most extensive collection of black markers in the world– and to drawing each one… to scale. He’s acquired 523 unique black markers. So far.
click the image above, or here, to enlarge
More photos, and an interview with Lee, at Design Milk.
As we try to recall ‘what’s black and white, and red all over,” we might recall that it was on this date in 1961, that industrial designer Raymond Loewy made a dozen sketches of a futuristic sports car at the request of Sherwood Egbert, the recently appointed president of the ailing Studebaker Corporation. Egbert hoped that Loewy, who had a long relationship with the company, could design a new car bold enough to capture the popular imagination and boost the company’s sagging fortunes. Loewy and his team produced a prototype automobile in record time; the Avanti—Italian for “forward”— debuted in April 1962 to rave reviews. The four-passenger car was indeed forward-looking, for it had a steamlined fiberglass body with almost no chrome, and was the first American car to incorporate a disc brake system along with other safety features. A series of problems stalled production of the car, however; and the Studebaker Corporation abruptly discontinued its U.S. manufacture late in 1963.
preliminary study for the Avanti (more here– source: Library of Congress)
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