David Whitfield Lewis (19 February 1939 – 8 November 2011) was a British industrial designer. He is best known for his work for

Bang & Olufsen Bang & Olufsen (B&O) is a Danish high-end consumer electronics company that designs and manufactures audio products, television sets, and telephones. It was founded in 1925 by Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen, who designed a radio to work with alt ...

. He was a distinguished member of

Royal Designers for Industry Royal Designer for Industry is a distinction established by the British Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in 1936, to encourage a high standard of industrial design and enhance the status of designers. It is awarded to people who have achieved "sustained ...

. Several of the products he designed are included in the

MoMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; Ang ...

permanent collection of design.

Life

David Whitfield Lewis was born in London. He wanted to become a furniture designer, but the class at London's Central School of Art and Design was full. So instead, he decided on education as an industrial designer. He had a keen interest in Danish design and architecture. He met a Danish au pair, who would later become his wife. The couple moved to Denmark in the 1960s.

Design

Lewis founded ''David Lewis Designers'' in Copenhagen, and from this studio, he would live to design an impressive range of products. In the early 1980s, Bang & Olufsen made David Lewis, their chief designer. This unique freelance relationship resulted in numerous international design icons. Lewis was the studio's man, with his sparkling creativity and vitality always very involved with projects. His fellow claim that he could turn things upside down and chase the yet unseen. He brought a tireless desire to change the conventions and to go new ways. 'He never asked "Why?" but always "Why not?"'

Selected products

* Beocenter 2200 (1983), Hi-Fi system * Beovision MX 2000 (1985), TV designed like a monitor. ID Award in 1986 * Beolink 1000 (1985), Remote control. ID Award 1986 * Beovox Red Line (1985), Loudspeaker * Beovision LX 2800 (1986), TV * Beosound Ouverture (1991), Hi-fi system that presented inserted CDs upright * Beolab 6000 (1992), loudspeaker. Awards: MOMA 1993, IF 1993 * Beolab 8000 (1992), loudspeaker looking similar to an organ pipe. Awards: MOMA 1993, IF 1993 * Beosound Century (1993), Hi-Fi upright standing. Awards: ID 1994, Good Design Japan 1994 * Beolab LCS 9000 (1993), Active loudspeaker Award: Good Design Japan 1994 * Beo 4 (1994), a very slender remote control * BeoVision Avant (1995), TV with video tape * BeoLink Passive (1995), amplifier * Beosound 9000 (1996), the iconic "6 CDs in a row" Hi-fi system * Beocenter AV 5 (1997), TV with a radio and CD player * BeoLab 4000 (1997), active loudspeaker. Awards: IF 1998, Good Design Japan 1998 * Beovision 1 (1999), TV * Beolab 1 (1999), active loudspeaker. * Beocenter 6 (2003), free standing television on a stand with an iconic silhouette * Beosound 8 (2010), dedicated iPod speakers *

Serenata In music, a serenade (; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honor of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Italian w ...

, mobile telephone with loudspeaker

Awards

David Lewis is currently represented with three Bang & Olufsen products in the permanent design collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York. He received several other awards and prizes: * 2007: Honorary fellow, RIBA, Royal Institute of British Architects * 2003: Danish Design Council Annual Prize * 2002: Knight of the Dannebrog, Denmark * 1995: Royal Designer for Industry, London * 1994: The Danish ID prize * 1994: The Japanese G-mark Design Award * 1993: The Japanese G-mark Design Award * 1992: The Japanese G-mark Prix * 1991: The Japanese G-mark Design Award * 1990: The Danish ID prize * 1990: The Japanese G-mark Design Award * 1989: The Japanese G-mark Design Award * 1982: The Danish ID prize * 1976: The Danish ID prize

References

External links

*
David Lewis
at BeoWorld
David Lewis
at ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''
David Lewis
obituary at

Core77 ''Core77'' is an online design magazine dedicated to the practice and produce of the field of industrial design. It serves as a resource for students, practitioners and fans of the field, as well as a venue for essays and reports on the topic of ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, David British industrial designers 1939 births 2011 deaths