Raymond Loewy- Streamlining

Raymond Loewy began his career as a fashion illustrator, but then began to take interest in designing for industries. This proved an ideal career change as Loewy made an immediate effect on the industry, you could say he revolutionised industry. He worked as a consultant for hundreds of companies and created designs from cigarette packets to cars and even space crafts. He believed that the public may not be ready to accept logical solutions to their requirements if the solution is bigger than what they have been accepting as the norm. His first commission was to improve the appearance of a mimeograph machine for a British company. His design was created in three days and remained in use for over 40 years. Loewy created a new concept of ''beauty through function and simplification''. He spent over 50 years streamlining everything from the smallest postage stamp to the largest spacecraft. Some of his famous creations include the GG1 Locomotive, the slender Coca-Cola bottle, the Greyhound Bus, the Shell logo and the Loewy Pencil Sharpener.

The Loewy Pencil Sharpener

Even though Raymond Loewy was a well known automobile designer, he was also commissioned to design office equipment. This was one of his designs, the streamlined pencil sharpener. This sharpener was much smaller than its predecessors, but just as efficient and easy to use. It was chrome plated and its teardrop design added to a more modern effect. It was fastened to a table top and the shavings would be removed from the base.

The Wet Jet concept by Brad Steele

This hand held, jet assisted shower head was part of a project to design a streamlined object. Steele chose Loewy's pencil sharpener for inspiration. He wished to make a more streamlined, aesthetic, modern object. He produced this design where the handle is inspired by a blade of grass with water coming through the surface. The upper head is made by a deposable rotating sponge and scrub. The head produces the function while the shape is a tribute to Raymond Loewy's famous streamlined pencil sharpener design.

The Father of Industrial Design Raymond Loewy. no date. Raymond Loewy PR and Head Shots. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.raymondloewy.com/photo-gallery.html. [Accessed 26 January 14].

Modern Mechanix. 2008. Pencil Sharpener Is Stream-Lined (Jul, 1934). [ONLINE] Available at: http://blog.modernmechanix.com/pencil-sharpener-is-stream-lined/. [Accessed 26 January 14].

coroflot. 2008. ASU projects by Brad Steele. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.coroflot.com/bsteele/ASU-projects. [Accessed 26 January 14].