ID [PNW]

The Polaroid Desk Lamp No. 114 - 1937 - photo courtesy TEAGUE Although today we associate Polaroid with instant photographs, the company was originally was founded on the invention of polarized film. Edwin Land worked with researchers to develop applications for his new film in the 1930's and were striving to find a successful product. They developed a polarizing lens filter for Eastman Kodak in 1933, which is likely how they connected with Walter Dorwin Teague.   One of those experimental products was a desk lamp that emitted polarized light, reducing the reflective glare and easing eye strain. The first product was a blocky chunk of Bakelite, largely dictated by engineering constraints.  Teague, with staff designer Frank Del Giudice, took those constraints and imagined a new form, the Polaroid Desk Lamp No 114.  Frank was the first Teague designer to have a formal education in industrial design. (The others either came from architecture, engineering, or ...

The Vanity Kodak of 1928. owned and photographed by Ralph London. It's time for an update on the progress of the   Walter D. Teague documentary . My last update was July 2011 when I returned from my research trips to New York City, Aspen, Oregon and Denver.  Well, the reality is that when classes start in September (being a full-time professor) I don't have much time to work on the doc at all.  But, in the fall, I worked with my industrial design students to recreate, digital models of some of Teague's greatest designs.  They painstakingly studied photographs and patent drawings to make these designs with Solidworks software. Kodak cameras, Steuben glass, and Sparton radios were re-created so that we can show them 3 dimensionally and animate them for the film!  It's going to look amazing! The raw, unrendered Solidworks model of the Sparton Sled radio model 557 1936. Modeled by Sean Missal.         ...