Nocturne, model 1186 designed by Walter Dorwin Teague

Advertisements

Design Classic – Influential and important design

Nocturne, model 1186 radio
Nocturne, model 1186 radio

Nocturne, model 1186

Standing over four feet tall, this towering console of satin chrome and mirrored cobalt glass is a commanding example of the styling of items to meet the Machine Age ideal of the 1930s. The Nocturne radio, built by Walter Dorwin Teague, one of the premier industrial designers of the 1930s, is one of the most striking manifestations of the merger of art and technology. Teague’s use of a formalist aesthetic, emphasising the appropriateness of geometry derived from machines, resulted in the design of the radio. The massive mirrored disc creates a beautiful façade that covers an otherwise plain wooden casing housing the radio receiver and its components rather than the design of the operation of the radio.

Details

Title: Nocturne, model 1186, From the Lobby of the Park Central Hotel, Miami Beach
Creator: Walter Dorwin Teague (American, 1883–1960), Sparton Corporation
Date: c. 1935
Location created: Jackson, Michigan, United States
Rights: The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection
Art form: Radio
Material: Mirrored glass, chrome-plated metal, wood

Sources

Bonnie Pitman, ed. “Nocturne radio (Model 1186)” in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art; New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2012), 262.

Design Store

Books| Good Design

 

 

Design for Good: A New Era of Architecture for Everyone
Available for Amazon Prime $37.00 $27.60 (as of April 18, 2024 12:02 GMT +10:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Design for Good: A New Era of Architecture for Everyone
$35.15 (as of April 18, 2024 12:02 GMT +10:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Good by Design: Ideas for a Better World
Available for Amazon Prime $45.00 $31.23 (as of April 18, 2024 12:02 GMT +10:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
John Cary
(as of April 18, 2024 12:02 GMT +10:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
The Goods of Design: Professional Ethics for Designers
Available for Amazon Prime $40.00 $38.00 (as of April 18, 2024 12:02 GMT +10:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
The Goods of Design: Professional Ethics for Designers
$38.00 (as of April 18, 2024 12:02 GMT +10:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
The Goods of Design: Professional Ethics for Designers
$132.00 $104.00 (as of April 18, 2024 12:02 GMT +10:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Victionary
(as of April 18, 2024 12:02 GMT +10:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)

More Influential Design

You may also be interested in

Petipoint Iron with Wings | Design Object

The Petipoint iron is an excellent example of industrial design that is inspired by aircraft. In their design, Clifford Brooks Stevens and Edward P. Schreyer included slim cooling wings. Streamlined aesthetics were applied to various household appliances, especially irons, where evocations of efficiency and speed appeared to ease a hot and often unpleasant domestic labour.

“Sitzmaschine” reclining armchair, model no. 670, Josef Hoffmann

The adjustable armchair Sitzmaschine (a machine for sitting), designed in 1905 by Josef Hoffmann, initially for the Westend Sanatorium in Purkersdorf near Vienna, and manufactured as bentwood furniture by J. & J. Kohn Company in 1906 under the catalogue number 669, epitomised the Viennese geometrical Jugendstil in furniture design.

Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.