Charles W. 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 manufactur ...

. 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 Charles Pelly, it b ...

. He has spent most of his life in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. He attended the

Art Center College of Design Art Center College of Design (stylized as ArtCenter College of Design) is a private art college in Pasadena, California. History ArtCenter College of Design was founded in 1930 in downtown Los Angeles as the Art Center School. In 1935, Fred R. ...

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, 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 commercial district. I ...

and studied for his

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an 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 practice.

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

Konstfack Konstfack, or 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 e ...

, University College of Art, Crafts and Design in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. He then worked in several renowned design offices, including

Henry Dreyfuss Henry Dreyfuss (March 2, 1904 – October 5, 1972) was an American industrial design pioneer. Dreyfuss is known for designing some of the most iconic devices found in American homes and offices throughout the twentieth century, including the West ...

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. 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 ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

. 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. The series was inspired by the 1812 novel ''The Swiss Family Robinson.'' The series fo ...

” *1962: 4-door

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

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 known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

monorail, Disney,

Burbank, CA 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 has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, who ...

*1986: Varix seating line,

Samsonite Samsonite International S.A. () is an American premium luggage manufacturer and retailer, with products ranging from large suitcases to small toiletries bags and briefcases. The company was founded in Denver, Colorado, United States. Its regis ...

Furniture Co.,

Murfreesboro, TN Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...

*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 Ameri ...

, Torrero research vehicle,

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

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

*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 ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

*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 is an annual auto show held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in early December. The LA Auto Show is an OICA sanctioned international exhibition. It is open to the public for ten days each year, filling of exhibit s ...

. 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)