American designers Marion V. Dorn and E. McKnight Kauffer returned to New York in 1940 after a long, productive period working abroad in England. Their retreat, spurred by World War II, was a hasty one. Dorn, the more resilient of the pair, spent much of the 1940s re-establishing her career, even briefly designing scarves for...
After World War II, design boomed in Europe. Colors were brighter, lines more dynamic and materials more industrial—affordable modernism emerged to feed thriving consumers in the 1950s. The now iconic Homemaker tableware line started as a challenge for young English designer Enid Seeney. She was tasked with creating an “all-over” pattern for fashionable rimless plates....
On September 21, Cooper-Hewitt and Chronicle Books celebrated the publication of Design Research: The Store that Brought Modern Living to American Homes, by Jane Thompson and Alexandra Lange. The evening commenced with a touching introduction by Jane Thompson, recounting the genesis of Design Research, the postwar emporium in Boston that introduced advanced designs...
