Eva Zeisel
(1906–2011)

At its annual conference in Washington, DC, IDSA honored Ms. Zeisel, "for her long-term contributions to the field, and bringing Europe's high standards of integrity to mass-produced American goods."

This elegant Royal Traveller attaché case, designed by Clair Samhammer, FIDSA of Design West Inc. for the Samsonite Corp., was a refined improvement of its predecessor.

The original design, the Classic, introduced in 1962 by Samsonite, was also designed by Samhammer, at that time with Melvin Best Associates, in Pasadena, CA.

The first automatic office copier to make copies on plain paper, the 914, is introduced by Haloid Xerox. A floor-mounted device, it was designed by James G. Balmer of Armstrong-Balmer & Associates, in collaboration with Don Shepardson, John Rutkus and Hal Bogdenoff of Xerox, who had developed an engineering prototype.

In 1947, Nathan Horwitt designed a wristwatch with a plain black face without numerals and a white disk marking the 12 o-clock position. The following year, his design was produced, without credit or compensation, by Zenith Movado. It was a prime example of design piracy, and Horwitt sued, but justice would take 27 years. In the meantime, the design was placed in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in 1960, and become known as "The Museum Watch.".

The Secretary, a copying machine, designed by , 32, of Harley Earl, Inc. for 3M Co.,Thermo-Fax Division, was introduced by the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M) in 1958. The product was awarded one of three National Awards and Medals annually by the Industrial Designers Institute (IDI) in 1958. Highberger was the youngest designer to ever receive the award for "Excellence in product design."

Servel, Inc., the sole manufacturer of gas absorption refrigerators since 1926, introduced the Wonderbar, a compact portable refrigerator designed by industrial designer and Servel VP of Product Planning, Donald Dailey. The Wonderbar, made almost completely of Bakelite plastic, was designed to get refrigerators into rooms other than the kitchen. Servel also later introduced the first automatic ice-maker in its full-sized refrigerator, also styled by Dailey and his staff.

In 1952, this Model 1500 Flight bathroom scale was designed by Don DeFano, Richard Latham (see below) and Franz Wagner of Raymond Loewy Associates. It was introduced by the Borg-Erickson Company in 1953 at $15.00, and was later selected by Fortune magazine as one of the top 500 designs of all time.

Dr. Ferdinand Porsche (1875-1951) developed this inexpensive rear-engine small car called the Type 32, or Kleinauto, for the NSU Company in Germany in 1932. It was based on an original small car prototype Porsche had developed, but never produced in 1931 for the Zündapp Works, a motorcycle firm.

Porsche had just in 1931 opened his own automotive design firm with his son, Ferdinand "Ferry" Porsche II (b. 1909) , but already had a long and distinguished career of innovative design.

This lamp produced by the Leipzig firm of Körting & Matthieson, was designed by Hin Bredendieck, a student at the Bauhaus.

Donald Deskey, FISDA
(1894-1989)