Submitted by: Submitted by lusp
Views: 524
Words: 2137
Pages: 9
Category: Other Topics
Date Submitted: 10/05/2010 07:47 PM
It’s hard to talk about Industrial Design without mentioning Raymond Loewy. “Raymond Loewy is invariably recognized as having done for design what Elvis Presley did for music. He gave style, razzmatazz and sex to machinery and consumer products” (Julier 127). He designed everything from Coca-Cola bottles to Greyhound buses and until today is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential designers of all time. “Today, Lowey is generally recognized as one of the founders of his profession known as industrial design” (Herman 9).
Loewy was born in Paris in 1893; he was the son of Marie Labalme and Maximilian Loewy who was a Viennese journalist. He began to show interest for design at a very early age. When he was only 15 years old he designed a model airplane that was powered by rubber bands and named it Ayrel. He then patented it and soon began selling his plane models. However there was no such thing as designers at the time so Loewy went to school for Engineering at the Université de Paris and École de Laneau. Four year later when he had already graduated he was called to serve the French army during World War I where he later on had a position as a captain. Then in 1919, “he followed his brothers to New York, in a search for the American dream,” (Julier 127). In his book, Industrial Design Loewy writes, “wearing the uniform of a French army captain, I landed in New York with fifty dollars in my pocket” (50).
Once in New York, Loewy decided to give fashion a try. His first job in the U.S. was doing window displays for Macy’s and Saks Fifth Ave. However this only lasted a couple of days since Loewy was too ahead of his time and his window displays were not understood by his superiors. He then began working as a fashion illustrator for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. He was a very successful illustrator but in 1929 when the stock market crashed, Loewy decided it was time to move on. “The Great depression shook America and my life; I decided that my fashion...