Donald Deskey | |
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| Born | Donald Sidney Deskey November 23, 1894 |
| Died | April 29, 1989(1989-04-29) (aged 94) |
| Known for | Industrial design |
Donald Sidney Deskey (November 23, 1894 – April 29, 1989) was an Americanindustrial designer.
Donald Sidney Deskey[1] was born inBlue Earth, Minnesota. He studied architecture at theUniversity of California, but did not follow that profession, becoming instead an artist and a pioneer in the field ofIndustrial design. He attended the 1925Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, which influenced his approach to design.[2] He went on to establish a design consulting firm in New York City and later the firm of Deskey-Vollmer (in partnership withPhillip Vollmer), which specialized in furniture and textile design. His designs in this era progressed fromArt Deco toStreamline Moderne.
Deskey first gained attention as a designer with his window displays for theFranklin Simon Department Store inManhattan in 1926. In the 1930s, he won the competition to designRadio City Music Hall's interiors. He also sold geometrically painted objects through the fashionable shop ofRena Rosenthal, and did custom design work for her.[3] In the 1940s, he started the graphic design firmDonald Deskey Associates and made some of the most recognizable icons of the day, including theCrest toothpaste packaging, theTide bullseye, as well as a widely used New York City lamppost model.[2][4] In 1940, Deskey developed a decorative form ofplywood, which had a unique striated, or combed, look. Produced under the name Weldtex, it became very popular in the 1950s.[2]
His company is still in operation inCincinnati. A collection of his work is held by theCooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.[5] He died inVero Beach, Florida, the town to which he had retired in 1975.
In 1923, Deskey married Mary Campbell Douthett,[6] a pianist and later professor of music atJuniata College.[7] They had two sons, Michael Douthett Deskey, an architect, and Donald Stephen ("Steve" or D. Stephen) Deskey, a building contractor. In 1952, Deskey married Katharine Godfrey Brennan, who survived him.[8]
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