The Warm and Natural Designs of Russel Wright!

We kick-started our coverage of influential industrial designers with the incomparable Raymond Loewy, whose designs have touched all facets of life--from furniture, to interiors, to cars and even aviation. We bring you today the style of Russel Wright, another important and talented industrial designer who also heavily influenced American design.

Where Loewy was known for his cutting edge, sleek and futuristic designs, Wright’s style was more earthy, accessible and organic. Taking his cues from nature, his designs often featured curved and soft forms, and his color palettes were lifted straight from natural landscapes with hues like browns, creams, light blues and greens. Wright is most well-known for his contributions to dinnerware: his American Modern dinnerware collection, made from 1939-1959 by the Steubenville Pottery company, is considered the most popular ceramic dinnerware in history.

Unlike Loewy, Wright’s furniture designs were quite popular. He was responsible for creating several top-selling furniture lines, his most popular the Art Deco blond wooden furniture line he created for Conant-Ball company. He also created home décor accessories and even textiles. A strong believer that the table was the center of the home, he did a lot of work with dinnerware and ceramics, designing lines of Melmac melamine resin plastic dinnerware for the home, like his line “Residential,” which became quite popular. His accessible and practical designs have been credited with helping mainstream American families discover the modern style. Though he often designed using solid colors, he would occasionally foray into pattern, usually borrowing designs from the plant world.

Wright had a unique outlook and connection to American history--he came from an old American family that could trace lineage to two signers of the Declaration of Independence. These ties led to a strong sense of American loyalty and an understanding of American style. Getting art training early through the Art Academy of Cincinnati, he briefly studied law at Princeton University before succumbing to his talents and moving to New York City to do set design under Norman Del Geddes. It was after the theater he worked at closed that he began to foray into props and decorative objects, eventually moving into home décor accessories. After meeting and marrying his talented wife Mary, the two created Wright Accessories, a successful home décor design business. Though Wright passed away in 1976, his daughter Annie manages the still successful and active Wright Studios, proof that Wright’s style and legacy continues even today.