Charles Harrison, 87, Designer Who Reshaped the View-Master, Dies
Subject
3-D View Master; Charles Harrison; Sears, Roebuck & Company
Description
Charles Harrison, an industrial designer who rethought hundreds of ordinary items, including a plastic trash bin on wheels, a see-through measuring cup and the 3-D View-Master, which were then snapped up by the nation’s burgeoning postwar middle class, died on Nov. 29 in Santa Clarita, Calif. He was 87.
The cause was a bacterial infection, said his son, Charles Harrison III.
Mr. Harrison was a designer, not an inventor; his mission was to refashion consumer products so they could be mass-produced, pleasing to the eye and conducive to easier living.
He was part of a golden age of industrial design, a time after World War II when newly prosperous families were eager to acquire the products they saw advertised on their boxy television sets. With goods flooding the marketplace, design became crucial to manufacturers competing for attention and sales.
By the time he retired in 1993, Mr. Harrison, who was African-American, had broken through racial barriers and risen to become the chief product designer for Sears, Roebuck & Company. When he was hired at Sears headquarters in Chicago in 1961, he was the first black executive there.
Creator
Source
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/obituaries/charles-harrison-dead.html
Publisher
nytimes.com
File
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