Author: Ben Green

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Image features three clear glass drinking glasses in graduated sizes, each one in the form of a cylinder with a curved base on a low square foot. Please scroll down to read the blog post about these objects.
Modern Glassware
During the height of the Great Depression, Libbey Glass Company, a commercial glass manufacturer based in Toledo, Ohio, released several new lines of stemware including this Knickerbocker set. The 1933 Libbey Glass catalog heralded this introduction of products as a “New Era of Glass” and promoted these objects as “the highest point that has yet...
Image features brown metal unit housing electric motor, having on/off switch at top, circular projection at front with black cord below; pen-like metal "wand" holding cylindrical pink rubber eraser at end. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
Presto! Erased in Seconds
The Illinois-based office supplies manufacturer Metal Specialties Manufacturing Company first released a line of “Presto” products in 1939. Originally the line only included pocket and desk-sized staplers, but the firm would eventually create a wider range of products such as this electric eraser. This relatively simple and nondescript device allowed the user to store the...
Image features a pastel pink hand-held mixer with metal plate under a long handle; on/off switch and speed control at side and top of handle; white underside with two circular openings at front to receive two removable metal beaters. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
Mixing Food and Matching Colors
In 1955 General Electric released a line of kitchen appliances available in what they called “mix-and-match colors.” From canary yellow dishwashers to cadet blue refrigerators, one could construct an entire kitchen with G.E.’s colorful products. A two-page spread in Better Homes and Gardens from 1956 explained how one could entirely modernize his or her kitchen...
Image features key chain made from assembled blue anodized aluminum bolt, red and gold anodized aluminum washers, and violet anodized aluminum nut. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
Nuts and Bolts
In celebration of Women’s History Month, March Object of the Day posts highlight women designers in the collection. A 1954 article in Women’s Wear Daily announced the arrival of Patricia Smith’s novel jewelry designs, noting, “highly colored, glamorized nuts, screws, bolts and other industrial products make unusual anodized aluminum jewelry by the new firm of...
Image features a commode with slightly serpentine rectangular top above two long drawers, the fronts inlaid with ivory lozenge stringing, on four tapered legs, the two front legs with canted outer edge inlaid with an ivory fillet with scrolling volute at top and ivory feet. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
Art Deco Masterpiece
Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, the designer of this commode, produced a number of luxury furniture pieces throughout the 1920s and early 1930s that represent the pinnacle of French Art Deco design. His work often imbued historical cabinetmaking techniques and forms with a vibrant and modern spirit. Though he achieved notoriety for his furniture, his firm also produced...
Image features red plastic form, circular opening at one side to fit over a door knob, tapering to long handle as hand grip to turn knob. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
Opening the Door for Accessible Design
Since the early 1980s, around the time of this door knob attachment’s production, designers and engineers have been particularly attuned to the physical, psychological, and emotional needs of users during their interactions with everyday things. This design approach has been called “user-centered design” and considers users’ needs at every stage of the design process. Donald...
Image features rectilinear desktop telephone in red and black, with handset at top, black keypad with green, yellow and blue number and function keys on left, rectangular gray panel with logo on right. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
Communicating in Style
Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, the design team and one-time couple Gideon Löwy and Lone Lindinger-Löwy created a series of telephones called BeoCom, made for the Danish consumer electronics manufacturer Bang & Olufsen. The prefix “beo” is standard for all of Bang & Olufsen’s major products and the ending references the device’s purpose:...
Image features bright blue ceramic bowl of inverted conical form with notched rim of opposing heights; narrow circular foot in white. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
A Glorious Color
To celebrate the opening of Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color (May 11, 2018-January 13, 2019), Object of the Day this month will feature colorful objects from the exhibition.  Elsa Rady, an American ceramicist, created works in porcelain that bridge craft and fine art, recalling Walter Gropius’ Bauhaus philosophy that the craftsperson and artist are one-in-the-same....
Image features a low wooden stool consisting of a thick circular seat on three splayed, tapering legs, rectangular in section. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
Musing on Materials
In a 1929 article for The Studio, Charlotte Perriand, the designer of this stool, wrote polemically about the advantages of using metal over wood, noting its utilitarian and aesthetic value. She said, “Metal plays the same part in furniture as cement has done in architecture. It is a Revolution.”[1] Her now-iconic B306 chaise longue made...