Deskey, Donald

Deskey, Donald

▪ American designer
born Nov. 23, 1894, Blue Earth, Minn., U.S.
died April 29, 1989, Vero Beach, Fla.

      American industrial (industrial design) designer who helped establish industrial design as a profession.

      Deskey attended the University of California at Berkeley, the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art (now San Francisco Art Institute), and the Art Institute of Chicago before studying in Paris in 1920–22. He served as director of the art department at Juniata College, Huntington, Pa., and later became the director of the industrial design department of New York University, where his work received international recognition.

      About 1926, after starting his career in advertising, Deskey began to design furniture, lighting, and interiors. His inventive use of industrial materials for decorative purposes brought him acclaim and caught the attention of the Rockefeller Center, Inc., which in 1932 awarded him a large contract for the interior decoration and furnishings for Radio City Music Hall. The extraordinary results of this project helped the designer launch Donald Deskey Associates as a major consulting firm.

      In addition to package and product designs for major corporations, Deskey's firm produced a number of projects for various world's fairs. These include structures for the New York exhibitions of 1939–40 and 1964–65, the Seattle World's Fair of 1962, and the Confluence Theater of the U.S. Pavilion at HemisFair 1968 (held in San Antonio, Texas). His firm also designed the interiors of clubs, restaurants, and hotels in New York City. In the field of building materials, Deskey invented a high-pressure laminate known as Weldtex.

Additional Reading
David A. Hanks and Jennifer Toher, Donald Deskey: Decorative Designs and Interiors (1987).

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Donald Deskey — (23 November 1894 – 29 April 1989) was a native of Blue Earth, Minnesota. He studied architecture at the University of California, but did not follow that profession, becoming instead an artist and a pioneer in the field of Industrial design. In… …   Wikipedia

  • art deco — a style of decorative art developed originally in the 1920s with a revival in the 1960s, marked chiefly by geometric motifs, curvilinear forms, sharply defined outlines, often bold colors, and the use of synthetic materials, as plastics. Also,… …   Universalium

  • industrial design — industrial designer. the art that deals with the design problems of manufactured objects, including problems of designing such objects with consideration for available materials and means of production, of designing packages, bottles, etc., for… …   Universalium

  • Edward Durell Stone — (March 9, 1902 Fayetteville, Arkansas August 6, 1978 New York City, New York) was an American modernist twentieth century architect. Stone was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, a small college town in the northwest corner of the State. His family… …   Wikipedia

  • Radio City Music Hall — Le Radio City Music Hall est une salle de spectacle située dans le Rockefeller Center dans le quartier de Midtown à New York. C’est dans ce lieu que se produisent notamment The Rockettes, groupe de danse féminin qui existe depuis 50 ans. On y… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Rockefeller Center — U.S. National Register of Historic Places U.S. National Historic Landmark …   Wikipedia

  • Radio City Music Hall — Infobox Venue name = Radio City Music Hall image caption = Front facade of the Radio City Music Hall nickname = Radio City, Showplace of the Nation location = 1260 Sixth Avenue (aka Avenue of the Americas) New York City, New York coordinates =… …   Wikipedia

  • Radio City Music Hall — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Fachada del teatro en 1996 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Radio City Music Hall — es un teatro ubicado en el Rockefeller Center en la ciudad de Nueva York. Es conocido como el teatro mas importante de los Estados Unidos, abrió sus puertas el 27 de diciembre de 1932 y en su escenario se presenta todos los años el Radio City… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Crest (toothpaste) — Crest Tube of Crest Type Toothpaste Owner Procter Gamble Country U.S. Introduced …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”