Russel Wright: Living with Good Design
by Robert Stearns

Russel Wright (1904-1976) was one of America's most influential industrial designers and was among the field's most prominent founders. The exhibition, Russel Wright: Living with Good Design, presents a broad range of his designs and offers some insights into his motivations and influences, derived from his formative years in the Midwest and the work he conducted in Asia in the 1950s and 1960s. Wright was more than a designer concerned with trends and styles; he was committed to serving the public. His broader missions were to free a new American generation from its Victorian-era past while celebrating the best of traditional American design and to instill a love of and intimacy with nature by integrating the home with its surrounding environment. His designs for domestic living were tools in his quest to simplify everyday living and to bring Americans closer to the world around them.

Russel Wright was an intriguing, complex person: a conundrum of high integrity, laced with puzzling contradictions. As we examine his life, we find a man who was culturally engaged but often socially distant. He could be intensely focused, yet adrift and aloof from his family and friends. He was demanding and critical of others but no less so than of himself. These traits were infused in his work as well; Wright's assertive and efficient designs were not always so functional: some spouts dripped and a few cup handles didn't fit the fingers meant to use them. Yet, he is admired and honored for his work that delivered not just affordable things but new ways of living. Wright often said that he felt "with religious intensity that good design is for everyone." [1]

In this writing I offer a view of Russel Wright's life and work following the structure of the exhibition. This traces his early life in Ohio; the beginnings of his design career as he explored new forms and materials; the emergence of a philosophy that significantly altered American lifestyles; the broadening of his world view through travels in Asia; and his ultimate integration of life and nature at his residence in upstate New York.

Much has been written about Wright's design work; I do not attempt to retrace those details, and I encourage you to find that important information in publications listed elsewhere on this Web site.

People new to the world of Russel Wright are often puzzled by the spelling of his first name. He was baptized Russell and grew up with the standard spelling. Early in his professional career, he received an order of stationery with his name spelled with one "l," Russel. It seemed so distinctive that he adopted it. [2]

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