DON WALLANCE
Don Wallance was born in Queens, New York in 1909. He studied English Literature at New York University, graduating in 1930. After travels in Northern Europe, where he gained exposure to International Style buildings and designs, he returned to New York and enrolled in the nascent Design Laboratory, noteworthy for its Bauhaus inspired curriculum. His studies there, ranging from aesthetic principles, to materials research and fabrication proved crucial in shaping his identity as a metalworker, as well as a furniture and industrial designer. In 1937 he was awarded first prize in a stacking chair competition by the Museum of Modern Art.
During the Second World War, Wallance designed military equipment. The technical experience he gained during his service was formative, endowing him with both pragmatic and performance oriented design skills. After the war, Wallance established his own design consulting practice in Washington D.C. where he continued his work with the government. In 1948, he shifted his focus to consumer markets and moved his studio to Croton-on-Hudson, New York.
Starting in 1953, Wallance partnered with the H.E. Lauffer Company, creating Design One, the stainless steel flatware for which he is best known. During this time, he also produced furniture, cookware, stoneware, and other objects for the home. He saw himself as an “industrially oriented craftsman,” and researched widely and across disciplines, always addressing the use of his designs before style. His commitment to beauty extended across his body of work. His flatware in particular is noteworthy for its sculptural qualities, for which Wallance drew inspiration from abstract sculptors like Constantin Brancusi, Henry Moore and Jose de Rivera.
Alongside his industrial design career, Wallance established himself as a design scholar and author. His 1956 book Shaping America’s Products, heralded by The New York Times as “a pioneering study of industrial design,” was a survey of mid-century design and designers around the United States.
In later life, Wallance dedicated himself to the Croton Visual Environment Board, a group which he founded and led. After his death in 1990, his family established the Don Wallance Archive at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, a collection that contains the entire contents of the designer’s studio, including over 1,100 objects. His work is also preserved at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Denver Art Museum, and the RISD Museum.
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