Clifford Brooks Stevens (June 7, 1911 – January 4, 1995) was an American industrial designer of home furnishings, appliances,
automobiles, and motorcycles, as well as a graphic designer and stylist. Stevens founded
Brooks Stevens, Inc., headquartered in
Allenton, Wisconsin.
In 1944, along with
Raymond Loewy and eight others, Stevens formed the
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 ...
.
Upon his death in 1995, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' called Stevens "a major force in industrial design".
Background and personal life
Stevens was born in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...
, on June 7, 1911. Stricken with
polio
Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...
as a child, he was encouraged by his father to practice drawing while confined to his bed, perhaps motivating his career in design. He studied
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
from 1929 to 1933, and established his own home-furnishings design firm in 1934 in Milwaukee. His son, Kipp Stevens, ran the
Brooks Stevens Design Associates
Brooks Stevens, Inc., also known as Brooks Stevens Design Associates and Brooks Stevens Design, is a product development firm headquartered in Allenton, Wisconsin. Brooks Stevens's services included research, industrial design, engineering, protot ...
until late 2008, when he stepped down.
In 1959, Stevens opened a 12,500sf automotive museum in
Mequon, Wisconsin
Mequon () is the largest city in Ozaukee County, in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, and the third-largest city in Wisconsin by land area. Located on Lake Michigan's western shore with significant commercial developments along Interstate 43, the com ...
, which became a repository for his own designs as well as others—and became a production facility in the late 1980s for the
Wienermobile
A fleet of motor vehicles shaped like a hot dog on a bun, called "Wienermobile", are used to promote and advertise Oscar Mayer products in the United States. The first Wienermobile was created by Oscar Mayer's nephew, Carl G. Mayer, in 1936. ...
fleet. The museum closed in 1999, four years after his death.
Stevens died on January 4, 1995, in Milwaukee. He was survived by his wife Alice, sons Kipp, William, and David, a daughter, Sandra A. Stevens, and five grandchildren.
Design
His designs in home and kitchen appliances were popular, and he is recognized as the originator of the robin's-egg-blue phase of 1950s kitchen appliances, as well as the iconic
Skylark
''Alauda'' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. Further, at least two additional species are ...
laminate design popularized by Formica. He also practiced architectural design and graphic design. Of note is his design of the
Miller Brewing
The Miller Brewing Company is an American brewery and beer company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller. Molson Coors acquired the full global brand portfolio of Miller Brewing Company in 2016, and operates the M ...
logo and he is also credited with convincing the company to switch from traditional brown bottles to clear bottles.
As an automobile designer, Stevens redesigned the 1962
Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk on a minuscule budget.
The fast, elegant GT remained until the end of American production. According to Hendry, Stevens also styled "three innovative products for family car use for the 1964-66 period" (which were never manufactured).
[ He then designed ]Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depressi ...
motorcycles including the 1949 Hydra-Glide Harley, one of his first, helping create the new suspension forks in the front, bucket headlight, and the streamlined design. All Harleys since, including models in production now, are based on Stevens's body designs.
He designed the Jeep Wagoneer
The Jeep Wagoneer is a sport utility vehicle (SUV) nameplate of Jeep vehicles, with several models marketed for the 1963 through 1993 model years and again since the 2022 model year.
Various versions of the Wagoneer were manufactured in the US ...
, which was introduced for 1963 by Willys-Jeep. This model was so popular that it was offered in basically the same form by Jeep's subsequent owners, including Kaiser Jeep
Kaiser Jeep was the result of the 1953 merger of Kaiser Motors, an independent passenger car maker based in Willow Run, Michigan, with the Toledo, Ohio-based Willys-Overland Company.
Willys-Overland had been at one point before World War II t ...
, AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
, and finally Chrysler, until 1991.
Stevens designed the Oscar Mayer
Oscar Mayer is an American meat and cold cut producer known for its hot dogs, bologna, bacon, ham, and Lunchables products. The company is a subsidiary of the Kraft Heinz Company and based in Chicago, Illinois.
History Early years
German im ...
Wienermobile
A fleet of motor vehicles shaped like a hot dog on a bun, called "Wienermobile", are used to promote and advertise Oscar Mayer products in the United States. The first Wienermobile was created by Oscar Mayer's nephew, Carl G. Mayer, in 1936. ...
, an American pop-culture icon. He designed engines for Briggs and Stratton. He also designed the university logo for the Milwaukee School of Engineering
The Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) is a private university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The campus is in the List of neighborhoods of Milwaukee, East Town neighborhood of downtown Milwaukee. The school's enrollment of 2,820 includes 224 g ...
(MSOE) in 1978 as a part of "The Diamond Jubilee" celebration. The logo remains in use today.
Stevens designed the post-war Skytop Lounge
The Skytop Lounges were a fleet of streamlined passenger cars with the parlor-lounge cars built by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("the Milwaukee Road") and sleeper-lounges built by Pullman-Standard in 1948. The cars were d ...
observation car
An observation car/carriage/coach (in US English, often abbreviated to simply observation or obs) is a type of railroad passenger car, generally operated in a passenger train as the rearmost carriage, with windows or a platform on the rear of ...
s for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad's Hiawatha
Hiawatha ( , also : ), also known as Ayenwathaaa or Aiionwatha, was a precolonial Native American leader and co-founder of the Iroquois Confederacy. He was a leader of the Onondaga people, the Mohawk people, or both. According to some account ...
passenger trains.
He also designed a series of "Excalibur" racing sports cars in conjunction with Kaiser Motors
Kaiser Motors (formerly Kaiser-Frazer) Corporation made automobiles at Willow Run, Michigan, United States, from 1945 to 1953. In 1953, Kaiser merged with Willys-Overland to form Willys Motors Incorporated, moving its production operation ...
. Beginning in the mid-1960s he and his sons began production of the retro-styled Excalibur
Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in th ...
, modeled on the 1920s-era Mercedes-Benz SSK
The Mercedes-Benz SSK (W06) is a roadster built by German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz between 1928 and 1932. The name is an abbreviation of ''Super Sport Kurz'', German for "Super Sport Short", as it was a short wheelbase development o ...
roadsters.
Stevens modernized the Aero-Willys sedans that were offered in Brazil in the 1960s, and there is a very Studebaker Hawk-ish look to the body of these cars.
Stevens's design contributions to the recreational boating industry included collaborations with Outboard Marine Corp. to style the Evinrude Lark and Johnson Javelin outboard motor series. He also designed the Evinrude Lark concept boat, eventually produced as the Cadillac Sea Lark. Together with Bob Hammond's 1956 Lone Star Meteor, these designs may be credited with introducing post-world war automotive styling to leisure craft. Other work in the marine industry include designs for Owens Yacht Company and Cutter Boats as well as a line of stainless steel marine hardware for the Vollrath Company.
Stevens is credited with restyling the front end of the Volkswagen 411 411 may refer to:
* The year AD 411, the four hundred and eleventh year of the Gregorian calendar
* 411 BC
* 4-1-1, a telephone directory assistance number in the United States and Canada
** By extension, a slang term for "information"
* ''What's ...
, marketed as the ''412''.
Planned obsolescence
Though he is often cited with inventing the concept of planned obsolescence
In economics and industrial design, planned obsolescence (also called built-in obsolescence or premature obsolescence) is a policy of planning or designing a good (economics), product with an artificially limited Product lifetime, useful life o ...
(the practice of artificially shortening product lifecycle to influence the buying patterns of consumers in favor of manufacturers), he did not invent it but rather popularized the term. Stevens defined it as "instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary". His view was to always make the consumer want something new, rather than create poor products that would need replacing. There is some debate over his role in this controversial business practice.
See also
* Automotive design
Automotive design is the process of developing the appearance (and to some extent the ergonomics) of motor vehicles - including automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans.
The functional design and development of a modern m ...
* Industrial design
* Product design
* Paxton Phoenix
References
http://wisconsinology.blogspot.com/2009/02/brooks-stevensthe-designer-of-20.html
External links
60 Years of Industrial Design
providing a brief biography of Stevens
Official Site
Brooks Stevens: Industrial Design
His Firm (still in operation)
Milwaukee Art Museum Exhibition Site
Milwaukee Road "Skytops"
France)
Industrial Designer Brooks Stevens
Video produced by Wisconsin Public Television
PBS Wisconsin (formerly Wisconsin Public Television or WPT) is a state network of non-commercial educational television stations operated primarily by the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It c ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Brooks
1911 births
1995 deaths
American automobile designers
People in the automobile industry
Artists from Milwaukee
Cornell University alumni