Henry Dreyfuss

Streamlined class NYC J-3a ( Hudson ) steam locomotive for the 20th Century Limited night express train

Henry Dreyfuss (born March 2, 1904 in Brooklyn , New York , † October 5, 1972 in South Pasadena , California ) was an American product designer and an important exponent of the Art Deco style Streamline-Moderne .

As one of the most famous product designers of the 1930s and 1940s, Dreyfuss influenced the appearance and usability of numerous consumer goods . Unlike Raymond Loewy and other contemporary designers, he wasn't just interested in the appearance of his products, he also used common sense and scientific approaches to solve design problems. His work popularized the service of product design and made a decisive contribution to the related aspects of ergonomics , anthropometry and human factors .

Until 1920 Dreyfuss trained with the theater designer Norman Bel Geddes , his later competitor. In 1929 he opened his own theater and product design company (today: Henry Dreyfuss Associates ).

Works (selection)

• 1930: Western Electric model 302 desk phone for Bell Laboratories , produced from 1937 to 1950
• 1936: Hoover model 150 vacuum cleaner
• 1938: Hudson - streamlined locomotives and passenger coaches for the 20th Century Limited of the New York Central Railroad
• 1938: two tractors (Model A and Model B) for John Deere
• 1939: the famous Democracity model city of the future at the World's Fair in New York
• 1949: Desk phone model 500 , which was produced until the 1990s

In 1955 Dreyfuss wrote his autobiography "Designing for People" ( ISBN 978-1-58115-312-5 ), in 1960 he published "The Measure of Man", a standard work in ergonomics.

Henry Dreyfuss was the first president of the IDSA Industrial Designers Society of America .

In 1972 Dreyfuss and his terminally ill wife committed suicide.

Web links

Commons : Henry Dreyfuss  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• About Henry Dreyfuss (English)
• Henry Dreyfuss Associates (English)