Raymond Loewy

Raymond Loewy
Raymond Loewy in 1950
Born(1893-11-05)November 5, 1893
Paris, France
DiedJuly 14, 1986(1986-07-14) (aged 92)
Resting placeRochefort-en-Yvelines Cemetery, Rambouillet, France
CitizenshipFrance, United States
EducationUniversity of Paris
OccupationIndustrial Designer
Years active1909–1980
Notable work
Spouse(s)Jean Thompson Bienfait[1]
(m. 1931–1945; divorced)
Viola Erickson
(m. 1948–1986; his death)
ChildrenLaurence Loewy
(b:1953 d:2008)
Websiteraymondloewy.com

Raymond Loewy (/ˈli/ LOH-ee, French: [ʁɛmɔ̃ levi];[2] November 5, 1893 – July 14, 1986) was a French-born American industrial designer who achieved fame for the magnitude of his design efforts across a variety of industries. He was recognized for this by Time magazine and featured on its cover on October 31, 1949.[3]

He spent most of his professional career in the United States, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1938. Among his designs were the Shell, Exxon, TWA and the former BP logos, the Greyhound Scenicruiser bus interior, Coca-Cola vending machines and bottle redesign,[4] the Lucky Strike package, Coldspot refrigerators, the Studebaker Avanti and Champion, and the Air Force One livery. He was engaged by equipment manufacturer International Harvester[5] to overhaul its entire product line, and his team also assisted competitor Allis-Chalmers.[6] He undertook numerous railroad designs, including the Pennsylvania Railroad GG1, S-1, and T1 locomotives, the color scheme and Eagle motif for the first streamliners of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and a number of lesser known color scheme and car interior designs for other railroads. His career spanned seven decades.

The press referred to Loewy as The Man Who Shaped America, The Father of Streamlining and The Father of Industrial Design.[7]

  1. ^ Hagley Digital Images Archived November 5, 2013, at archive.today
  2. ^ Duden – Das Aussprachewörterbuch (in German) (8 ed.). Berlin: Dudenverlag. 2015. ISBN 978-3-411-05508-1.
  3. ^ Loewy on the cover of Time (October 31, 1949)
  4. ^ "The History Behind the Coca-Cola Bottle". The Coca-Cola Company. Archived from the original on August 19, 2019. Retrieved October 20, 2019. When King and Family sized packaging were introduced in 1955, Raymond Loewy was part of the team that worked to recast the bottle but still keep the proper proportions.
  5. ^ The Big Book of Farmall Tractors. Voyageur Press. ISBN 978-1610605168.
  6. ^ "HD-14". February 26, 2016.
  7. ^ "FastFacts". raymondloewy.com.