Charles Whipple Pelly, commonly Chuck Pelly, is an American

industrial designer Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufactu ...

. Pelly is best known for founding the global design consultancy

DesignworksUSA Designworks is a global creative consultancy owned by BMW and based in Santa Monica, California, United States. Designworks has two further studios, in Munich, Germany and Shanghai, China. Established independently in 1972 by Chuck Pelly, it bec ...

. He has spent most of his life in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. He attended the

Art Center College of Design The ArtCenter College of Design is a private art college in Pasadena, California. It was incorporated in 1930 as a degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual arts and design. ...

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

and studied for his

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

. After graduating from Art Center College of Design, he studied furniture and interior design in

Konstfack Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, is a university college for higher education in the area of art, crafts and design in Stockholm, Sweden. History Konstfack has had several different names since it was founded in 1844 by the eth ...

, University College of Art, Crafts and Design in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. He then worked in several renowned design offices, including

Henry Dreyfuss Henry Dreyfuss (March 2, 1904 – October 5, 1972) was an American industrial designer. He is known for designing the Western Electric Model 500 telephone, the Westclox Big Ben alarm clock, and the Honeywell T87 Round Thermostat. Career Drey ...

Associates where he was instrumental in developing early ergonomics, Measure of Man. Pelly still holds a long term relationship to Art Center, as he was involved as student, teacher, mentor and lecturer. In 1972 Pelly became founder of DesignworksUSA, today considered by some as one of the top 10 industrial design consultancies in the world. In 1995, DesignworksUSA became wholly owned subsidiary of

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

. Pelly was president and CEO until 2000 of the Newbury Park & Munich branches. In 2000 Pelly and his partner Joan Gregor founded The Design Academy, Inc. With the recent launch of Intersection-Inc., an offshoot of The Design Academy, Chuck is responsible for Creative Direction.

Design highlights

*1958–1960: Designer of the 6 Scarab sports car for

Lance Reventlow Lance Graf von Haugwitz-Hardenberg-Reventlow, (February 24, 1936 – July 24, 1972) was a British-born American entrepreneur, racing driver and heir to the Woolworth fortune. Reventlow was the only child of heiress Barbara Hutton and her se ...

*1961: Storyboard and set design for television series ''

Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. Lightly dramatic, sometimes comedic in tone, the series was inspired by the 1812 J ...

'' *1962: 4-door

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

910 Sedan, VW Beetle Stretch Limo, Scarab and Chaparral race car *1974: IMED Infusion Pump *1975: C Pelly seating line for Condi Furniture, Compton, CA/ Grammer, Amberg, Germany, marketed until 2001 *1984: Crista seating line, SunarHauserman and Pelican Desk Series, Brueton Industries *1985: Seating and interior for

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

monorail, Disney,

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

*1986: Varix seating line,

Samsonite Samsonite International S.A. is an American Baggage, luggage manufacturer and retailer, with products ranging from large suitcases to small toiletries bags and briefcases. The company was founded in 1910 in Denver, Colorado, Denver, Colorado, U ...

Furniture Co.,

Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 165,430 according to the 2023 census estimate, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010 United States census, 2010. Murfreesboro i ...

*1989:

Magna International Magna International Inc. is a Canadian parts manufacturer for automakers. It is one of the largest companies in Canada and was recognized on the 2020 ''Forbes'' Global 2000. The company is the largest automobile parts manufacturer in North Amer ...

, Torrero research vehicle,

Geneva Auto Show The Geneva International Motor Show was an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show was hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon was organised b ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

*1994: Designworks/USA’s concept and development of BMW’s E2, electric vehicle *1998: Designworks/USA’s concept involvement in the BMW E46 (3 Series) *1999: Designworks/USA’s concept involvement in BMW E63-1999 Sport Activity Vehicle, Hanover, Germany, Land Rover Range Rover *2002: Designed & custom built “Cattiva”, a 43 foot world class catamaran,

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

*2004–2006: Lifestyle vehicle and trailer design for Magna International *2005–Present: Co-founder and director of Design Los Angeles conference and Design Challenge for

LA Auto Show The Los Angeles Auto Show, also known as the LA Auto Show, is an auto show held annually at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is open to the public for ten days, filling of exhibit space. Since 2006 ...

. Pelly has been awarded over 40 US and foreign Patents.

Awards

*Chuck was president is IDSA,

Industrial Designers Society of America The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is a membership-based not-for-profit organization that promotes the practice and education of industrial design. The organization was formally established in 1965 by the collaborative merger of t ...

, FIDSA 1991-1992IDSA
"Charles W. Pelly"
, ''IDSA'', . Retrieved 2010-04-05.

References

External links

The Design Academy, Inc
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelly, Charles Living people American industrial designers Year of birth missing (living people)