Discovering Deskey
Crest toothpaste packaging, 1960, Roadsidepictures via flickr; New York City lamppost, forgotten-ny.com /Artwork:
designslinger]
I decided to clean out some bankers boxes full of files that I've been storing for years,
and came across a file full of Donald Deskey research. The folder was one of many that I put together when we're prepping a movie, and when I came across the Deskey file I remembered how I'd never heard of him until then, and yet he was one of the most influential designers of the 20th century.
He designed for Proctor and Gamble for decades, creating the Crest toothpaste tube and
box, as well as the Prell shampoo logo and botttle. New Yorkers walk past thousands of lampposts that Deskey designed in the 1950s. And his talent wasn't confined to just designing some of the most popular product packaging of the century, but also one of the best known interiors in Manhattan, Radio City Music Hall. He introduced gold-foil wallpaper in his interior decoration of the lobby and lounges, and designed all the furniture and lighting, as well as the stair and balcony rails in the Grand Foyer.
Most people don't know his name, and certainly don't associate any one individual with
common household products, let alone the same person who designed the inside of Radio City, but that was Donald Deskey for you.
Posted by designslinger at 2/26/2009 7:00 AM 
Categories: Architecture, Decorative Arts, Interior Design, Furniture, Preservation
Categories: Architecture, Decorative Arts, Interior Design, Furniture, Preservation
You have a really nice, interesting and well laid-out blog here. I'll be back!
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