#loewy

[formtrends]

Celebrating designer Raymond Loewy's birthday with his Studebaker Avanti concept sketch. Colored pencil and charcoal on vellum (March, 1961)

[classicvirus]

American oddball: 1963 Studebaker Avanti R2

“What am I looking at, exactly?” It is the phrase that most often comes to the mind of anyone who observes this car for the first time, one of the most innovative cars of the 1960s in general, and certainly the most innovative car of the American car industry of those years.

We ourselves have often seen this car in photos, very rarely in flesh and blood, but we have never focused on its details…

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[penhero]

This is a third generation Eversharp Symphony Black fountain pen with a polished steel cap c. 1951-1952. This 5 1/2 inch long lever-fill model lacks the previous version's Loewy "slipper" cap design in favor of a simpler, streamlined "bullet" cap. Eversharp did not use the Symphony name in advertising these pens, but the only real difference in the second and third generation is the cap. The gold plated clip is stamped MADE IN U.S.A. over EVERSHARP on the face. They can be found in Black, Blue, Burgundy and Green. These pens have a long breather tube that extends from the end of the section into the ink sac. Note the banner style nib, stamped with EVERSHARP over 14K over MADE IN U.S.A. This model sold for $5.00 and $8.75 in a set with a matching pencil. #pencollecting #fountainpen #wahl #wahleversharp #eversharp #symphony #loewy #dreyfuss #slipper #penhero https://www.instagram.com/p/B9EboRdDwlU/?igshid=1w2qp41ya23o8

[hagleyvault]

In 2019, Hagley was privileged to receive a donation of over 150,000 negatives from railroad photographer and collector Herbert Harwood Jr. The following is one of a series of posts featuring images from the collection. To learn more and see additional images from the collection, check the Hagley Digital Archives.

On May 15th, 1977 industrial designer Raymond Loewy appeared alongside the electric GG1 locomotive #4935 at Union Station in Washington D.C. The GG1, partially designed by Loewy, was returning to service after a major restoration funded and led by a group of dedicated rail enthusiasts and cooperative executives at Amtrak.

In the mid-1930s, the Pennsylvania Railroad hired Loewy’s industrial design firm to assist the railroad's in-house designers on their streamlined design for a new electric engine. Loewy’s team added the rounded corners and sleek surface that made the GG1 a stand-out during its era. Loewy usually gets solo billing as the designer of the GG1. While his enhancements were significant, the first examples of the engine did not include the Loewy modifications. 

The GG1 was built for passenger service along the electrified lines in the heavily traveled northeast corner of the U.S. The first GG1 rolled into service in 1935. The last was built in 1943 but many remained in service into the late 1970s. 

The GG1 that co-starred with Lowey at Union Station in 1977 was restored through the efforts of the Friends of the GG1 Committee, who recruited Loewy as their honorary chairman. The Committee raised the funds and signed an agreement with Amtrak to preserve #4935 beginning in 1977. The rebuilt GG1 returned to service for Amtrak for four years before taken out of service in 1981. It was sold and then donated to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg where it is on permanent (and prominent) display in their Rolling Stock Hall. 

Herbert Harwood photographed the images seen here at the dedication ceremony at Union Station in Washington D.C. prior to the refurbished GG1 going back into service.

Click to see more images of the GG1 from the Herbert Harwood Collection

[gentlecar]

Cadillac Loewy

NEW ! GentleCar is on Instagram !

[snailscorp]

Inktober day 5 : Long

[penhero]

This is a first generation Eversharp Symphony in green c. 1948.  It was designed by Paris, France born industrial designer Raymond Loewy (1893-1986), who emigrated to the United States in 1919 and started his own design company in 1927. He designed numerous consumer goods, emphasizing streamlining and modern materials, including the Coca Cola bottle, the Lucky Strike logo, toothbrushes, radios, electric razors, the Studebaker Avanti (the only car design exhibited in the Louvre) and the streamlined Electrolux vacuums, which may have inspired the Symphony's original “slipper” caps. Eversharp had high hopes that engaging this famous designer would help recreate the magic and success of the Henry Dreyfuss-designed Skyline.  These first year pens are notable for the original Loewy design of the “slipper” cap, where the cap has slightly offset halves, with a pronounced “step” edge at the top.  If viewed from the side, the bottom half of the cap (opposite from the clip) extends farther than the top half, giving it the distinctive asymmetrical “slipper” look.  These are the only Symphonys with a metal thread ring in the section and "EVERSHARP SYMPHONY" and "MADE IN U.S.A." stamped just below.  The clip face is angled and there is no cap band.  The nib and feed is essentially the same as in the previous Skyline pens.  Barrel colors were black, blue, green, and red.  The fountain pen, model 500, sold for $5.00, and the matching Repeater pencil, model 1500, sold for $3.75.

[hagleyvault]

Today’s post features before and after photographs of Air Force One, taken in 1963 to showcase its recent redesign by Raymond Loewy (1893-1986), in collaboration with President John F. Kennedy.

At the time, Loewy was a prominent and established industrial designer, known for his work with the Pennsylvania Railroad, Boeing, Studebaker, Greyhound Lines, Coca-Cola, Le Creuset, and many other notable brands and corporations.

In addition to photographs and news clippings documenting the redesign, the Hagley Library’s Raymond Loewy Archive (Accession 2251) also includes Loewy’s written recollections of his time spent initiating and negotiating the redesign with Kennedy and United States Air Force general Godfrey T. McHugh. You can read those remembrances, written in February 1967, after Kennedy’s assassination, by clicking here. To view more images from the career and life of Raymond Loewy, an inventor, engineer, and designer whose work covered everything from automobiles and airplanes to Lucky Strike cigarette packaging, dinnerware, and corporate branding, visit this collection’s page in our Digital Archives by clicking here.