Thomas Babbit Lamb (1896–1988) was an American industrial designer. He is best known for his innovative handle designs closely modeled on the mechanics of the human hand.

Biography

Lamb was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

on September 18, 1896. From the age of 14, he apprenticed himself to a plastic surgeon, doing medical drawings in exchange for anatomy lessons, and worked in a textile design shop. In the evenings he studied figure drawing and painting at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stud ...

. Lamb also studied merchandising at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

. This combination of anatomy, art, and business was integral to Thomas Lamb's career as a designer.

Textile design

At seventeen, Thomas Lamb opened his own textile design firm, specializing in advertising, fashion, and magazine illustration. His bedspreads, napkins, and draperies became very popular in the 1920s and were featured in many of the New York Department stores including Lord & Taylor, Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Children's books and commercial tie-ins

In 1924, he began

illustrating An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, video ...

children's books, including ''Runaway Rhymes'', ''The Tale of Bing-O'', ''Jolly Kid Alphabet'', and ''Kiddyland Story Balloons''.Lamb, Tom. ''Kiddyland Story Balloons''. Chicago: P.F. Volland Co, 1924. Shortly after his success with ''Runaway Rhymes'', Lamb signed a contract with

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...

magazine to illustrate a series of Kiddyland cartoons. Lamb developed an extensive line of

tie-in A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original pr ...

s, including Kiddyland textiles, soaps, and talcum powder. There was even a Kiddiegram designed for

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company ch ...

and endorsed by Shirley Temple.

The effect of the war

Like many other U.S. designers, Lamb re-examined his design philosophy during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Among his first responses to the economic and social realities of the period were a line of Victory Napkins and the "Adolph the Pig"

piggy bank Piggy bank (sometimes penny bank or money box) is the traditional name of a coin container normally used by children. The piggy bank is known to collectors as a "still bank" as opposed to the "mechanical banks" popular in the early 20th centur ...

, which was used to encourage the purchase of

war bonds War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are ...

. Like

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 ...

, Lamb noted the inadequacy of the

crutches A crutch is a mobility aid that transfers weight from the legs to the upper body. It is often used by people who cannot use their legs to support their weight, for reasons ranging from short-term injuries to lifelong disabilities. History Crutc ...

used by wounded and disabled

veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

. Initially focusing on the armrest, Lamb quickly noted that the hand bore the main burden, and began to experiment with ways to redistribute the pressure and make the crutches easier to handle. After extensive study anatomical and medical textbooks, he developed his Lamb Lim Rest crutch.

Becoming the "Handle Man"

Lamb applied the patents developed in designing the Lim Rest to cookware, cutlery, surgical tools, luggage, sports equipment, and industrial equipment. His designs culminated in his unique "Wedge-Lock" and "Universal" handles, and were a major influence on the

Universal Design Universal design is the design of buildings, products or environments to make them accessible to people, regardless of age, disability or other factors. It addresses common barriers to participation by creating things that can be used by the m ...

movement. By the late 1940s Thomas Lamb was known as the "Handle Man". In 1948 his work was featured 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. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...

during the period when the design establishment were focused on

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 2 ...

-inspired functionality. This publicity led to contracts to produce a line of cutlery for

Cutco Cutco Corporation, formerly Alcas Corporation, is an American company that sells knives, predominantly through direct sales or multi-level marketing. It is the parent company of CUTCO Cutlery Corp., Vector Marketing, Ka-Bar Knives, and Schillin ...

and cookware for Wear-Ever. Thomas Lamb died on February 2, 1988, at ninety-one years of age.

Resources

* Th
Digital exhibit on Universal Design
at

Hagley Museum and Library The Hagley Museum and Library is a nonprofit educational institution in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, near Wilmington. Covering more than along the banks of the Brandywine Creek, the museum and grounds include the first du Po ...

features items from th
Lamb papers

References

External links

Thomas Lamb papers
at

* Thomas Lamb is represented by copies of Lamb’s patents for handles (1945-1964), as well as information regarding the Thomas Lamb Scholarship in th
Marshall Johnson Collection of Trade Literature and Ephemera
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamb, Thomas American industrial designers Art Students League of New York alumni 1896 births 1988 deaths