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his own design firm in 1930 and in 1944 he formed Raymond Loewy
Associates which became the largest design firm in the world.
Loewy founded three design companies: Raymond Loewy and Associates,
New York; Raymond Loewy International, London; and Compagnie
de I'Esthetique Industrielle, Paris. During his lifetime Loewy's
companies worked for numerous private companies as well as governments,
and his designs have had a major effect on the man-made environment.
Products for which he has been responsible range from cars,
ships, aeroplanes, buildings and appliances to products such
as toothbrushes and pens. He served as consultant to numerous
corporations including Hupp Motor Company, Coca Cola, United
Airlines, Shell, Exxon, IBM, BMW, GM. |
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From a New Introduction
by Glenn Porter
Between the 1930s and the 1960s, Raymond
Loewy's streamlined designs for thousands of consumer goods—everything
from toasters and refrigerators to automobiles and ocean liners—radically
changed the look of American life. Regarded as the father of
modern industrial design, he appeared on the cover
of Time in 1949; in 1990, he was selected as one of Life's
"100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century." Americans
at midcentury lived in a Loewy-designed world, whether it was
the cigerettes they smoked (Lucky Strike's packaging), the soda
they drank (the rounded Coca-Cola
bottle), the toothpaste they used (Pepsodent's toothpaste
tube), the cars they drove (Loewy's organization was Studebaker's
design and styling department), the buses (Greyhound) and trains
(the Pennsylvania Railroad) in
which they rode, or the department store they shopped in (Lord
& Taylor). "Never Leave Well Enough Alone" was first published
in 1951 at the height of Loewy's career. His company, Raymond
Loewy Associates, served as a design consultant to more
than a hundred of the world's largest corporations, and products
manufactured to their specifications sold in excess of $3 billion
annually. Written and designed by Loewy,
this profusely illustrated book is part autobiography and part
design manifesto. Acclaimed for its wit, its idiosyncracies,
and its insight into the Loewy aesthetic,
this volume stands as a remarkable document of the American
Century and as a vital meditation upon the importance of industrial
design in daily life. |
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