Belle Kogan, Godmother of American Industrial Design
In 1920, a high school art teacher in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, suggested that one of her students sign up for a class in mechanical drawing. The student agreed, despite being the only girl in the class. It was a position she would grow used to over the subsequent years. The student was Belle Kogan (1902–2000), who became the first prominent female industrial designer in the United States, and one of the 20th century's most prolific and distinctive designers of either sex.
After high school, Kogan attended Pratt Institute for a semester, but family obligations forced her to drop out and spend almost a decade raising her younger siblings, while also managing her father's jewelry store and trying her hand at designing jewelry settings. Kogan's big break came in 1929 when Quaker Silver Company hired her as a designer and provided her with supplemental training and classes, both locally and abroad. It was during a 1930 company trip to tour factories in Germany, Czechoslovakia and France that Kogan began to develop her own design aesthetic, which was heavily influenced by the geometric and streamlined shapes of Art Deco.
Securing a retainer agreement with Quaker Silver in 1931, Kogan opened her New York–based studio, Belle Kogan Associates, becoming the first American woman to lead her own design firm. By 1939, she had hired a staff of three (female) designers, and had established herself as a player in the male-dominated field.
Initially known as the "silver lady," Kogan was quick to cross over into humbler materials like aluminum, ceramic and glass. She was also acknowledged as an early adopter of prewar plastics, using them in designs for celluloid toilet sets and clocks, and in Bakelite jewelry.
Throughout her long career, Kogan proved herself incredibly industrious, designing for numerous American manufacturers, including household names like Bausch and Lomb, Zippo and Dow Chemical. Between 1938 and 1964, she designed more that 400 pieces for Red Wing Pottery; she began the collaboration with a prodigious output of 150 new shapes, from which Red Wing chose 100 pieces for production—marketing them as the "Belle Kogan 100."
Kogan also filed numerous patents for her designs; spoke and wrote about the role of the modern industrial designer; and was a founding member of the New York chapter of the American Designers Institute (an early predecessor of the Industrial Designers Society of America).
Despite her tireless approach to work and the undeniable quality of her designs, Kogan faced a largely inhospitable industry. In 1939 she told the Brooklyn Eagle,"manufacturers were quite antagonistic when a woman came around proposing new ideas—they didn't think a woman knew enough about the mechanical aspects of the situation. I had to prove I have a practical mind."
In 1938, Kogan was commissioned by Zippo to develop a line of lighters.Kogan eventually shuttered her New York office in 1970, moving to Israel after contracting with KV Design to establish a studio there. She stayed on for two years and retired as a consultant, living in Israel to age 98. In 1994, six years before her death, Kogan became the second woman to receive the Personal Recognition Award from the IDSA (the award has only honored a total of four women since 1968). A handful of Kogan's silver pieces have joined major museum collections, but it's her mass-produced pieces, especially for Red Wing Pottery and Zippo, that have found a second life as coveted collector objects, still resonating with consumers 75 years later.
Article by: Rebecca Veit, a Los Angeles-based consultant, providing editorial and marketing services to the art and design community. http://codex.core77.com/users/rebeccaveit
In 1920, a high school art teacher in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, suggested that one of her students sign up for a class in mechanical drawing. The student agreed, despite being the only girl in the class. It was a position she would grow used to over the subsequent years. The student was Belle Kogan (1902–2000), who became the first prominent female industrial designer in the United States, and one of the 20th century's most prolific and distinctive designers of either sex.
After high school, Kogan attended Pratt Institute for a semester, but family obligations forced her to drop out and spend almost a decade raising her younger siblings, while also managing her father's jewelry store and trying her hand at designing jewelry settings. Kogan's big break came in 1929 when Quaker Silver Company hired her as a designer and provided her with supplemental training and classes, both locally and abroad. It was during a 1930 company trip to tour factories in Germany, Czechoslovakia and France that Kogan began to develop her own design aesthetic, which was heavily influenced by the geometric and streamlined shapes of Art Deco.
Securing a retainer agreement with Quaker Silver in 1931, Kogan opened her New York–based studio, Belle Kogan Associates, becoming the first American woman to lead her own design firm. By 1939, she had hired a staff of three (female) designers, and had established herself as a player in the male-dominated field.
Initially known as the "silver lady," Kogan was quick to cross over into humbler materials like aluminum, ceramic and glass. She was also acknowledged as an early adopter of prewar plastics, using them in designs for celluloid toilet sets and clocks, and in Bakelite jewelry.
Throughout her long career, Kogan proved herself incredibly industrious, designing for numerous American manufacturers, including household names like Bausch and Lomb, Zippo and Dow Chemical. Between 1938 and 1964, she designed more that 400 pieces for Red Wing Pottery; she began the collaboration with a prodigious output of 150 new shapes, from which Red Wing chose 100 pieces for production—marketing them as the "Belle Kogan 100."
Kogan also filed numerous patents for her designs; spoke and wrote about the role of the modern industrial designer; and was a founding member of the New York chapter of the American Designers Institute (an early predecessor of the Industrial Designers Society of America).
Despite her tireless approach to work and the undeniable quality of her designs, Kogan faced a largely inhospitable industry. In 1939 she told the Brooklyn Eagle,"manufacturers were quite antagonistic when a woman came around proposing new ideas—they didn't think a woman knew enough about the mechanical aspects of the situation. I had to prove I have a practical mind."
In 1938, Kogan was commissioned by Zippo to develop a line of lighters.Kogan eventually shuttered her New York office in 1970, moving to Israel after contracting with KV Design to establish a studio there. She stayed on for two years and retired as a consultant, living in Israel to age 98. In 1994, six years before her death, Kogan became the second woman to receive the Personal Recognition Award from the IDSA (the award has only honored a total of four women since 1968). A handful of Kogan's silver pieces have joined major museum collections, but it's her mass-produced pieces, especially for Red Wing Pottery and Zippo, that have found a second life as coveted collector objects, still resonating with consumers 75 years later.
Article by: Rebecca Veit, a Los Angeles-based consultant, providing editorial and marketing services to the art and design community. http://codex.core77.com/users/rebeccaveit
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gr8ampottery is offering a limited supply of "Belle Kogan 100" Tropicana Line Console Bowls & Vases
available for purchase.
available for purchase.
Red Wing "Shell Ginger" Tropicana Line Planter
$45.00
"Tropicana Line" planter designed by Belle Kogan. Measures 4-1/8" tall, 8" long & 3" wide. Excellent Condition; no chips, no cracks, no stains, no crazing. Rich color & shiny glaze finish. Hallmarked on bottom with "Red Wing USA B2017".
Red Wing "Bird Of Paradise" Tropicana Line Brown Console Bowl
$95.00
Magnificent Vintage Red Wing "Bird Of Paradise" Brown Console Bowl. Made in Red Wing Minnesota, "Tropicana Line" designed by Belle Kogan. Art Deco cocoa brown console bowl with chartreuse interior measures 2-3/4" tall, 14" long & 8" wide. Excellent Condition; no chips, no stains, light crazing. Rich color & shiny glaze finish. Hallmarked on bottom with "Red Wing USA B2014".
Red Wing "Bird Of Paradise" Tropicana Line Brown Decorator Vase
$75.00
Exotic Vintage Red Wing "Bird Of Paradise" Decorator Vase. Made in Red Wing Minnesota, "Tropicana Line" designed by Belle Kogan. Tall Art Deco cocoa brown vase with chartreuse interior made in USA. Measures 10" tall, 6-1/2" long & 3-1/4" wide. Excellent Condition; no chips, no cracks, no stains, no crazing. Rich color & shiny glaze finish. Hallmarked on bottom with "Red Wing USA B2002".
