Douglas Forsythe Kelley

Douglas Kelley (born August 9, 1928 in Buffalo, US) American Industrial Designer, who designed the T-chair and the Elna Lotus sewing machine.

Douglas Kelley

Career

Kelley studied at Pratt Institute in New York City, where he met Ross Littell and William Katavolos.[1] They started work for Laverne Originals, a furniture company, designing furniture, textiles and dinnerware.[2] While at Laverne, they designed the 'T-chair',[3] which won the A.I.D (American Society of Interior Designers) Award in 1952 for the best furniture design in the United States.[1] The chair has three legs of chrome steel, connected by a T-shaped stretcher in black enamelled steel. The sales brochure for the chair explained: 'We sought furniture that would work within a way of building, which would not complement or compete but in a sense continue the program of lines and planes and function as structural elements of the whole'.[1] The chair is now part of the permanent collections of MOMA,[3] the Art Institute of Chicago,[4] the Metropolitan Museum in New York,[5] the Vitra Design Museum[6] and the Victoria & Albert Museum.[1]

Elna Lotus sewing machine, designed by Douglas Kelley.

Kelley subsequently joined La Compagnie de l’Esthetique Industrielle (CEI) in Paris as managing director, at the invitation of Raymond Loewy.[7] He spent six years there (1960–1966), and collaborated on the design of the iconic Elna Lotus sewing machine.[8] He then resigned to head the newly established design office of Lippincott and Margulies in London.[7] Shortly thereafter he formed Douglas Kelley Associates, located in Jermyn Street, London.

References
  1. "3L/C | Kelley, Douglas (Mr) | V&A Search the Collections". V and A Collections. 2020-07-04. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  2. Boyce, Charles (2014-01-02). Dictionary of Furniture: Second Edition. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-62873-840-7.
  3. "William Katavolos, Douglas Kelley, Ross Littell, Alton Kelley. Side Chair. 1952 | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  4. "Side Chair entitled "T Chair"". The Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  5. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/484707
  6. "Vitra Design Museum: Collection". collectiononline.design-museum.de. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  7. Pulos, Arthur J. (1988). The American Design Adventure, 1940-1975. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-16106-0.
  8. "Compagnie de L'Esthétique Industrielle (CEI) - Raymond Loewy, Paris, Douglas Kelley, Roger Riche. Elna Lotus Sewing Machine. 1965 | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
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