When you spend a lot of time in airports, there’s only so much Hudson Newsstand and Cinnabon a person can take.   So, you can imagine my delight when I saw an exhibition at San Francisco International Airport celebrating the industrial design and influence of Russell Wright and his wife Mary.

I think the above opening illustration says it all: Easier Living.   You know, from far away, I thought it read “Easter” living.    Might be time to get my eyes checked again.

The exhibition featured various pieces Russell Wright designed for all types of different industries, ranging from hospitality to catalog to direct retail…with a strong emphasis on tableware and service pieces. 

This collection of spun aluminum really caught my eye because I am not a “retro” collector by any means and loved this.    I’ve always been a fan of very straight-forward, truth-in-materials type of design and this honesty of aluminum and raw cork/wood/rattan just looks great.   The natural materials look warm and the aluminum feels futuristic.  

Throughout the 1920′s-1960′s, Russell’s company (with his wife Mary), worked with the Stuebenville Pottery company in Ohio to create colorful and masterfully made pottery.   It’s interesting how these vintage pitchers here are done in glaze colors that are very “on trend” for today.    I do believe color palettes come in and out of favor with the public over time.      I’d be happy to have a set of pottery dishes in any of these colors today.

Even though more than 250 million pieces of dishware was created (most notably their American modern dinnerware, which was sold in color and basic in shape), there were more artistic pieces created in limited editions.   Notably, this simple floral pattern was designed by later shelved because it didn’t photograph well.  Since customers shopped by catalog, anything that couldn’t “read” in photo was rejected by retailers.   Funny,  isn’t it?    I love the simplicity of these dishes and will keep it in mind during my junk shop/thrift days.

Some pieces designed for the hotel and restaurant industry.    The island theme is really fun.   

And finally, one of the last collections designed by Russell Wright.  As with any design trend, his style was beginning to fade out at the end of his illustrious career, and this collection was made and presented to retailers but failed to get picked up.    These were samples made to show, so if you find any in your shopping adventures, pick it up.  It’s rare and wonderful.

Tags: Collecting, Retro Design, Russell Wright

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 3:05 am and is filed under Finds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.