Charles Whipple Pelly, commonly Chuck Pelly, is an American industrial designer. Pelly is best known for founding the global design consultancy DesignworksUSA.
He has spent most of his life in Southern California. He attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California and studied for his Master's degree.
After graduating from Art Center College of Design, he studied furniture and interior design in Konstfack, University College of Art, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, Sweden. He then worked in several renowned design offices, including Henry Dreyfuss Associates where he was instrumental in developing early ergonomics, Measure of Man. Pelly still holds a long term relationship to Art Center, as he was involved as student, teacher, mentor and lecturer.
In 1972 Pelly became founder of DesignworksUSA,[1] today considered by some as one of the top 10 industrial design consultancies in the world.[2] In 1995, DesignworksUSA became wholly owned subsidiary of BMW. Pelly was president and CEO until 2000 of the Newbury Park & Munich branches.
In 2000 Pelly and his partner Joan Gregor founded The Design Academy, Inc.
With the recent launch of Intersection-Inc., an offshoot of The Design Academy, Chuck is responsible for Creative Direction.