Don Charles Albinson (November 22, 1921 – November 17, 2008) was an American industrial designer who made many contributions to the world of

furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...

. He worked with

Charles and Ray Eames Charles Eames ( Charles Eames, Jr) and Ray Eames ( Ray-Bernice Eames) were an American married couple of industrial designers who made significant historical contributions to the development of modern architecture and furniture through the work of ...

for 13 years, helping develop many of the seminal

Herman Miller MillerKnoll, Inc., doing business as Herman Miller, is an American company that produces office furniture, equipment, and home furnishings. Its best known designs include the Aeron chair, Noguchi table, Marshmallow sofa, Mirra chair, and t ...

furniture pieces from the mid century – the bent plywood chair, the fiberglass shell chair, the aluminum group set, and the Eames Lounge chair, to name a few. He later developed the

Knoll In geography, knoll is another term for a knowe or hillock, a small, low, round natural hill or mound. Knoll may also refer to: Places * Knoll Camp, site of an Iron Age hill fort Hampshire, England, United Kingdom * Knoll Lake, Leonard Canyon, ...

Stack chair, the Westinghouse office line, an update to the DoMore Series 7 landscape system named Neo 7, the Albi stack chair for Fixtures, and the Bounce chair for Stylex.

Biography

Albinson was born in

Sparta, Michigan Sparta is a village in Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,244 at the 2020 census. The village is located within Sparta Township. Sparta is part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area and is located about north o ...

and raised in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. He attended

Cranbrook Academy of Art The Cranbrook Academy of Art, a graduate school for architecture, art, and design, was founded by George Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps Booth in 1932. It is the art school of the Cranbrook Educational Community. Located in Bloomfield Hills, Mi ...

in 1939, where he met

Charles Eames Charles Ormond Eames Jr. (June 17, 1907 – August 21, 1978) was an American designer, architect and filmmaker. In professional partnership with his wife Ray-Bernice Kaiser Eames, he made groundbreaking contributions in the fields of architect ...

, Ray Kaiser,

Harry Bertoia Harry Bertoia (March 10, 1915 – November 6, 1978) was an Italian-born American artist, sound art sculptor, and modern furniture furniture designer, designer. Bertoia was born in San Lorenzo di Arzene, San Lorenzo d'Arzene, Province of Porden ...

Eliel Saarinen Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1873 – July 1, 1950) was a Finnish and American Architecture, architect known for his work with Art Nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century. He was also the father of famed architect Ee ...

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer who created a wide array of innovative designs for buildings and monuments, including the General Motors Technical Center; the pa ...

and

Ralph Rapson Ralph Rapson (September 13, 1914 – March 29, 2008) was Head of the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota for 30 years. He was an interdisciplinary designer, one of the world's oldest practicing architects at his death at ag ...

. He also met his future wife, Nancy Blair Wilcox, at Cranbrook as well. He worked with

and

on the prototypes for the award-winning Eames – Saarinen designs for the 1941Organic Design in Home Furnishings competition at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He was drafted and served as a pilot in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Upon returning from the war, he moved the family to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

to work in the Eames office where he worked from 1946 to 1959. He was the lead designer for the 13 years he worked in the office. During his years with Eames, Albinson was directly involved with the development and production of iconic Eames furniture designs such as the molded plywood screen, the dining chair with metal legs (DCM), the Aluminum Group Chair, and several other products on which he shared more than a dozen patents with Eames. He also helped with the construction the Eames Case Study House in Pacific Palisades in 1949, as well as the

Max DePree Max De Pree (October 28, 1924 – August 8, 2017) was an American businessman and writer. A son of D. J. De Pree, founder of Herman Miller (office equipment), Herman Miller office furniture company, he and his brother Hugh De Pree assumed leadersh ...

House in

Zeeland, Michigan Zeeland ( ) is a city in Ottawa County, Michigan, Ottawa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 5,719 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is located at the western edge of Zeeland Charter Township, Michigan, ...

along with numerous other furniture and film projects. In 1964 Albinson moved the family to southeastern Pennsylvania; he had been offered the position of Design Director for

, in

East Greenville, Pennsylvania East Greenville is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,166 at the 2020. It is one of a strip of small towns that run together along Route 29, including Red Hill, Pennsburg, and East Greenville. T ...

. He was tasked with getting a number of challenging projects into production, as well as given the opportunity to shepherd his own chair design into production, the iconic 1601 stacking chair. Knoll introduced the stacking chair in 1965 and it won the AID Award in 1967. He was design director from 1964 to 1971; during his tenure he put into production such seminal furniture pieces as the Pollack Executive chair, the Platner Steel Wire Lounge collection, the Don Petitt chair, and many others. He was the Design Director at Knoll until 1971. After that time, he became an independent consultant, designing projects for Westinghouse, Domore, Stylex and Fixtures. In 1974 Westinghouse introduced the ASD Group of office seating, which Albinson designed, and it remained a very successful line for many years. In 1984 Albinson redesigned the DoMore Series 7 landscape furniture system, rebranding it the Neo 7 System. The Albi stack chair was introduced by Fixtures in 1987, and continued to be in production some 25 years later. The final contract furniture project was a stack chair for Stylex, the Bounce chair, introduced in 1997 and still in production through 2013. In 1977 the

Allentown Art Museum The Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley is an art museum located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1934 by a group organized by Walter Emerson Baum, a Pennsylvania impressionist painter. The museum maintains a collection of ov ...

(Pennsylvania) featured an exhibition of Albinson's furniture designs. In 2005 he donated his design archive to the Special Collections Department at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. Albinson was said to have approached each project with an element of curiosity, research and engineering, ultimately weaving those elements into the aesthetics of the specific challenge. He mentored and influenced many young designers, and his legacy touched many lives, in a truly positive way. A scholarship was set up in 2013 at Cranbrook Academy of Art, in Bloomfield Hills, MI, rewarding a deserving 3D Design student in the MFA program with a scholarship each year to provide financial assistance.

Furniture designs

*''Knoll 1601 Stack Chair'' (1965) *''DoMore Neo 7 landscape system'' (1974) *''Albi stack chair'' (1987) Fixtures *''Stylex Bounce stack chair'' (1997)

Exhibitions and retrospectives

* ''Furniture Designs by Don Albinson'' at the

, Pennsylvania (1977)

Biography

Furniture designs

Exhibitions and retrospectives

References

Further reading