Douglas Forsythe Kelley
Douglas Forsythe Kelley (August 9, 1928 – November 21, 2021) was an American industrial designer who was known for designing the T-chair and the Elna Lotus sewing machine.
Life and career
[edit]Kelley was born in Buffalo, New York on August 9, 1928. He studied at Pratt Institute in New York City, where he met Ross Littell and William Katavolos.[1] They started work for Laverne Originals, a furniture company created by Estelle and Erwine Laverne, designing furniture, textiles and dinnerware.[2] While at Laverne, they designed the 'T-chair',[3] which won the A.I.D (American Society of Interior Designers) Award in 1952 for the best furniture design in the United States.[1] The chair has three legs of chrome steel, connected by a T-shaped stretcher in black enamelled steel. The sales brochure for the chair explained: 'We sought furniture that would work within a way of building, which would not complement or compete but in a sense continue the program of lines and planes and function as structural elements of the whole'.[1] The chair is now part of the permanent collections of MOMA,[3] the Art Institute of Chicago,[4] the Metropolitan Museum in New York,[5] the Vitra Design Museum[6] and the Victoria & Albert Museum.[1]
Kelley subsequently joined La Compagnie de l’Esthetique Industrielle (CEI) in Paris as managing director, at the invitation of Raymond Loewy.[7] He spent six years there (1960–1966), and collaborated on the design of the iconic Elna Lotus sewing machine.[8] He then resigned to head the newly established design office of Lippincott and Margulies in London.[7] Shortly thereafter he formed Douglas Kelley Associates, located in Jermyn Street, London.
Kelley died in London on November 21, 2021, at the age of 93.[9]
References
[edit]
- ^ a b c d "3L/C | Kelley, Douglas (Mr) | V&A Search the Collections". V and A Collections. 2020-07-04. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
- ^ Boyce, Charles (2014-01-02). Dictionary of Furniture: Second Edition. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-62873-840-7.
- ^ a b "William Katavolos, Douglas Kelley, Ross Littell, Alton Kelley. Side Chair. 1952 | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
- ^ "Side Chair entitled "T Chair"". The Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
- ^ ""T" Chair". MET Museum.
- ^ "Vitra Design Museum: Collection". collectiononline.design-museum.de. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
- ^ a b Pulos, Arthur J. (1988). The American Design Adventure, 1940–1975. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-16106-0.
- ^ "Compagnie de L'Esthétique Industrielle (CEI) - Raymond Loewy, Paris, Douglas Kelley, Roger Riche. Elna Lotus Sewing Machine. 1965 | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
- ^ "Douglas Forsythe Kelley". The Telegraph. Retrieved 5 April 2023.