(b Decatur, IN, 18 Dec 1883; d Flemington, NJ, 5 Dec 1960). American industrial designer and writer. Between 1903 and 1907 he studied at evening classes at the Art Students League in New York, while working as a sign-painter. He then worked as an advertising illustrator, in particular for Calkins & Holden, a pioneering agency that specialized in the use of art for illustrations and in advising clients on the appearance of their products. Between 1911 and 1928 Teague worked as a freelance illustrator and commercial artist and became known for his use of classical typography and decorative borders, as in the layout and borders for Time magazine (1923). In 1926, while travelling in Europe, he discovered the work of Le Corbusier and in particular his book Vers une architecture (1923). On his return to New York that year he decided to pursue a career in designing or restyling products and packages for manufacturers. In New York at that time a group of individuals including Teague, Norman Bel Geddes, Raymond Loewy and Henry Dreyfuss (1904-72) began to establish industrial design as an independent occupation, promoted by the foundation of the American Union of Decorative Artists and Craftsmen in 1927. Later, in 1944, the Society of Industrial Designers was founded with Teague as its first President.

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A leading luminary of the new breed of industrial designer that emerged in the United States in the interwar years, Teague designed for many major American corporations during his long and distinguished career. From 1903 to 1907 he studied at the Art Students League in New York, specializing in typography and lithography. After a brief spell in a publicity agency, he went on to work from 1908 to 1911 in the art department of Calkins and Holden, a leading New York advertising agency, before setting up as a freelance typographic and advertising designer. By the mid-1920s he had expanded his services to include packaging and industrial design. However, it was not until after 1926 when he visited Europe and experienced at first hand the work of Le Corbusier and other avant-garde designers that he began working in an unambiguously modern manner. One of Teague's most important commissions at this time was for the redesign of the Box Brownie for Eastman Kodak (1927), a company with which he enjoyed a good working relationship over many years. He also designed the plastic Baby Brownie (1933) and streamlined Kodak Bantam (1936) cameras. Teague's many clients included Steuben Glass, for whom he designed glass tableware and decorative objects. Transport design was a particular strength of the Teague consultancy's output, with automobiles for Marmon, streamlined petrol stations for Texaco, coaches for the New Haven Railroad Company, and, from 1944 onwards, offices and airline interiors for the Boeing Company. These included the Boeing 707 and 747 jetliners. Teague also designed a number of displays for the Ford Motor Company including those at the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition of 1933 and the New York World's Fair (NYWF) of 1939-40. Indeed he played a seminal role at the NYWF, having chaired its Board of Design from 1936 in addition to designing the Ford Motor Company Pavilion, as well as work for several other leading corporations including Du Pont, Kodak Eastman, Consolidated Edison, and US Steel. His early thinking on design was contained in his book Design This Day: The Technique of Order in the Machine Age (1940). His position as a major figure in the industrial design profession was recognized in 1944, when he became the first president of the Society of Industrial Designers (see Industrial Designers Society of America). His reputation was also sufficient to be recognized in Europe, being made an honorary Royal Designer for Industry in 1951, the year in which the consultancy became known as Walter Dorwin Teague Associates.

Teague, Walter Dorwin (1883-1960), American industrial designer, celebrated for art deco petrol stations and radio sets, and for a series of camera designs for Eastman Kodak 1928-c.1938. The earliest were essentially fashion products: the 1928 Kodak Vanity Ensemble, for example, which repackaged a Model B Vest Pocket Kodak for sale with a lipstick holder, compact, and purse. The 1930 Beau Brownie was a box design with a modernistically decorated face-plate available in six colours, and the 1934 Baby Brownie was the first plastic-moulded camera. Teague also styled the successful Bantam Special (1936) and the very advanced, semi-automatic Super Kodak Six-20 (1938).

— Robin Lenman

"Beau Brownie"

Walter Dorwin Teague (December 18, 1883 - December 5, 1960) was an Art Deco designer and industrial designer. He designed cameras for Eastman Kodak, glassware for Steuben and Texaco gas stations.

His company's work with Boeing began in 1946 with the design of the Stratocruiser's passenger aircraft interior. This relationship with Boeing has lasted more than 60 years with Teague's Aviation Studios work on every Boeing aircraft including the 707, 747, 777 and 787.

Walter Dorwin Teague and his son of the same name made contributions to many basic industrial and consumer products, including the A.B. Dick Mimeograph to Cold War missiles like the Lark and Loki. He even built structures in the Soviet Union for the United States Information Agency. His firm's Steinway Peace Piano, built for the 1939 New York World's Fair, is now at the Smithsonian. The firm's design for the porcelain-clad Texaco station became an icon of post-war America as much as their original Polaroid Land Camera. His architecture included the Civil War Centennial Dome in Richmond, Virginia. Teague Associates' product designs are in major museums around the world including the Wolfsonian and Cooper-Hewitt. In Virginia Roanoke’s Art Museum of Western Virginia held an exhibition, sponsored by Norfolk Southern, that included the firm’s work.

Teague's son won an award from the Industrial Designers Institute for a fully-reclinable dentist's chair, which allowed dentists to sit while working on patients.

Teague's legacy continues today as his company Teague Design remains an important industrial design consultancy. Based in Seattle, Washington, Teague has worked with clients such as Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Boeing.

Teague designed the Centennial Dome in Richmond, Virginia.

External links

• Teague Design Firm
• Walter Dorwin Teague Associates, Inc.

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