Arthur J. Pulos

A distinguished design educator, propagandist, and industrial designer, Arthur Pulos was well known for his writings, his lecturing in developed and developing countries across the world, and his involvement with key organizations such as the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID). Graduating from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1939 he went on to study for a Masters of Fine Art at the University of Oregon, completing in 1943. Between 1955 and 1982 he was professor and dean of the Design Department at Syracuse University, also president of Pulos Design Associates (1955-88). His best-known texts on design in the United States are The American Design Ethic: A History of Industrial Design to 1940 (1983) and The American Design Adventure: 1940-1975 (1988). His consultancies have been wide-ranging, from advising Colonial Williamsburg in 1953 to acting as a juror for the International Design Awards, Osaka, in 1983 (see Japan Design Foundation). In addition to his presidency of ICSID from 1981 to 1983 he was made a Distinguished Designer Fellow of National Endowment (1984), received the 1st World Design Award at the World Design Conference in New York (1988), and the 7th International Design Award from the International Design Festival in Osaka in 1993.