Raymond Loewy

Art 358 – Karen Zimmermann

Research Paper

By: Asher Karns

Introduction : Raymond Loewy was argued to be the best Industrial Designer of the 20^th century. He came up with almost anything you look at today or have been in. He looked at design differently from the time he was just a child to the day he died, always creating. Designing was something that fascinated him to the extent that he wanted to be the best in the world at it. Loewy always wanted to create something that was new better and more eye appealing. With designs like the model airplane that will be later brought up to cigarette boxes and gas station logos. Raymond Loewy has carved the paths for Industrial Design in the past and will do so into the future with his ideas that we continue to modify today from their original versions. Just like in the movies today, everything is a remake. All the ideas were taken by early greats such as Raymond and in the film industry movies from the 60 and 70’s are seeming to be getting remade just like his design of the same time.

Childhood to Adulthood: Raymond Loewy was porn in Paris, France on November 5^th, 1893 to his father, a journalist, and his mother. He was raised in a middle upper class family. He did not go hungry as a child but then did not have all the toys in the world either. From the time he was only walking his father recollected somewhere that he was building things with the toys that he has accessible to himself at the time. "As a boy I had liked both drawing and physics, and I always abhorred the role of being a spectator. In 1908, when I was 15, I designed, built and flew a toy model airplane which won the then-famous James Gordon Bennett Cup. By 16 I had discovered that design could be fun and profitable, and this lesson has never been lost on me” (Raymond Loewy Father). Raymond talks about he hated being the spectator, from the time he was young he was always getting shown up for things he would try so hard on someone would do better. He did not like that he was not always involved so he decided to enter a competition. This was the first big step for him; he entered a cup for the best design and won with his Model airplane. After coming out of his shell he describes that he noticed what design really was now. He realized that he could make a living off of something that he could just create for fun. The last part of his quote shows the type of person he was. Raymond had the drive that most people can never get for anything, but he got it for something that was profitable to the most maximal extent. I believe this was the shaping to his life because of him just breaking out of his shell and boosting his confidence by winning that cup.

Early Design: Loewy started his life in America depending on how the transition goes. He is living in New York City and is working. “In 1919 he provided popular fashion illustrations for magazines such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Freelanced as a window designer for department stores, including Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy's.”(Raymond Loewy Father). When he originally moved to America he was working in a restaurant as a cook and a server. Then he started working as he stated taking photos for fashion. This is where he started to get his name in the business. Working as a photographer then going into some window design sets with his new concepts he got jobs working for large department stores. Department stores having him work on their window design says something about what he does and how he did it. At this young age he was one of the best of the best in his profession. His thoughts on the shaping of design,” when is began, industrial design meant the shaping- usually the reshaping- of the manufactured object, to improve its appearance and strengthen sales.” (Planes Trains and Automobiles). He was doing the same thing that his predecessors did and the same with the people who follow. They take original designs and make them better. He speaks about how when he just started into the industrial design it was just this. Shaping and reshaping to improve functionality along side with the look. Raymond knew that the look, design, would be the money maker when it came down to sales. Knowing what he knew about sales he realized who he could market to know.

Mature Design: He worked for anyone who wanted to hire him; he would just about design anything. Being so eager to work, work rolled in and in. Speaking of jobs that he was hired to design for, he worked for Shell Oil Company, Automobile companies where he built and designed his own vehicle called the Studebaker, cigarette companies, and basically everything in between also. While working for Shell Oil Company he designed the logo that is world re-known. The yellow shell which he designed got him into the automobile ideas. The Studebaker was his dream vehicle that he designed. This car was a car that the motor company made before but he decided that it needed to be re designed. His new design sold like crazy, compared to the old vehicle that the car company made. The new car sold twice as well making him a top designer worldwide. This was an advertisement for his vehicle "spanking new 1950 Studebaker convertible waiting at the curb. That he had designed too—along with all the Studebakers since the war...Loewy and his 143 designers, architects and draftsmen were busier than ever spreading that name & fame on a dozen new projects” (Loewy). Loewy was responsible for many huge breaks in safety and performance with vehicles.

Even before designing the Studebaker he designed the GG-1 electric locomotive for the Pennsylvania Railroad. This was the train that ran all around the country. Also he designed the Grey Hound Bus that we still know to this day. His designs have been around so long and are so good that they stick and will stick forever.

Last 20 years of life: The last years of his life were some of the most influential. He began to start working for NASA or a regular basis and they knew what his designs could take NASA. In 1972 a "Poll of stylists representing the Big Three automakers voted his 1953 Studebaker Starliner Coupé an "industry best." Also named one of the most influential Americans by LIFE magazine" (the father of). Now since he has appeared on the cover of TIME he has done it all. In the last ten years of his life in 1975 the "Smithsonian Institution opened The Designs of Raymond Loewy, a four-month exhibit dedicated to "the man who changed the face of industrial design. (Father of design). He dies in 1986 at the age of 93. In 1991 a Foundation is set up in his honor.

Wrapping it all up: Since Raymond Loewy has been born in Europe and came to America he has been designing and re designing. From the Stream Train to his amazing re designed car that sold off the lots like candy to little kids, his thoughts and ideas are flowing in us today. His designs like the Shell Logo originally had their name Shell in the middle of the yellow shell. But in the 60’s Shell Oil Company realized that the reason it was sticking was just the logo and not the name. The design is perfect and flawless I must say. My family having a background in the Shell Oil Company. The Museum of Modern Art even quotes his Studebaker car design as “a work of art” (Loewy). As Raymond gets older he starts doing bigger designs, he was one of the leading people in charge of the committee for the handicap in order to have more public places be handicap accessible. Two years later in 1967 he began being a constant consultant for NASA. He was responsible for many designs that have helped out in NASA and then have made it to the common world. Loewy didn’t invent Velcro but a NASA designer did and then it eventually found its way out to the world. It’s a common use thing today just as deigns that Loewy has made.

Bibliography

Loewy, Raymond. Never Leave Well Enough Alone. New York: The Johns Hopkins UP, 2002. Print.

Planes Trains and Automobiles. 24.5 (2003): 16-19. Article Linker. © 2009 EBSCO Industries, Inc. Web. 24 July 2009. <http://ezproxy.library.arizona.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc t=true&db=a2h&AN=10929529&site=ehost-live>.

Raymond Loewy The Father of Industrial Design. © Estate of Raymond Loewy & Barbara Haberman, 14 Feb. 2003. Web. 26 July 2009. dex.php>.

Time Magazine 31 Oct. 1949. Time Magazine. Time partners with CNN. Web. 25 July 2009. .html>.