MANILA, Philippines - Who was the American couple — married in 1941 — who worked and made major contributions in industrial design, furniture design, art design, graphic design, film and architecture?
In the 1950s, the couple pioneered innovative technologies such as the fiberglass, plastic resin chairs and wire mesh chairs designed for Herman Miller.
They also dabbled in the production of short films. From their first film, the unfinished Traveling Boy (1950), to the extraordinary Powers of Ten (1977), their cinematic work was an outlet for ideas, a vehicle for experimentation and education.
The couple also conceived and designed a number of landmark exhibitions. The first of these, “Mathematica: A World of Numbers…and Beyond,” was sponsored by IBM, and is the only one of their exhibitions still extant. “Mathematica” is still considered a model for scientific popularization exhibitions. It was followed by “A Computer Perspective: Background to the Computer Age” and “The World of Franklin and Jefferson,” among others.
Their office, which functioned for more than four decades (1943 to 1988) at 901 Washington Boulevard in Venice, California, included its staff, at one time or another, a number of remarkable designers like Henry Beer and Richard Foy, now co-chairmen of CommArts, Inc., Don Albinson, Deborah Sussman, Harry Bertoia, and Gregory Ain, who was chief engineer for the couple during World War II. Among the many important designs originating there are the molded-plywood DCW (Dining Chair Wood) and DCM (Dining Chair Metal with a plywood seat), the Lounge Chair, Machine, an early solar energy experiment, and a number of toys.
Short films produced by the couple often document their interests in collecting toys and cultural artifacts on their travels. The films also record the process of hanging their exhibits or producing classic furniture designs, to purposefully mundane topic of filming soapsuds moving over the pavement of a parking lot.
The husband died of a heart attack on Aug. 21, 1978 while on a consulting trip in his native Saint Louis, and now has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. The wife died 10 years later to the exact day.
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Last week’s question: Who was the 20th-century American architect whom United Press International described as “the most quoted architect since the death of Frank Lloyd Wright” and whose works include iconic New York City structures like the lobby and grand ballroom of Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Radio City Music Hall, and Rockefeller Center?
Answer: Edgar Durell Stone
Winner: Wilson Peñol of Caloocan
Text your answer to 0926-3508061 with your name and address. One winner will be chosen through a raffle of texts with the correct answer. The winner will receive P2,000 worth of SM gift certificates for use at Our Home, SM Department Store, or SM Supermarket. They can claim their prize at Our Home in SM Megamall. Bring photocopies of two valid IDs and a clipping of the Design Quiz issue in which you appear as winner.