Ward Bennett (1917 – 2003) American Designer – Defined an Era

Ward Bennett (1917–2003) was a New York designer, sculptor, textile, jewellery, industrial, and interior designer. Whose clean lines and exquisite material quietly defined an era.

Early Years

He started working as a dress designer, sketch artist, and store window decorator in 1930 when he was just 13 years old. His father performed in vaudeville. His determination to become a designer was cemented by a trip to Europe in the 1930s to illustrate the Paris fashion collections for American department stores. He studied with the sculptor Constantin Brancusi at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris for a full year in 1937.

A clothing designer and window dresser by day, he studied by night with Hans Hofmann and shared a studio with Louise Nevelson.

Biography

He started as an interior designer in 1947 by creating a penthouse for Harry Jason. He worked as an interior designer in various locations, including New York, London, Venice, Rome, and Neptuno, Italy. He established himself as an interior decorator when he furnished a Manhattan penthouse with built-in padded platforms, white lacquered bookcases, and cork floors. He combined opulent material accents, such as the hand-dyed leather upholstery and fur bedspreads, with clean white lines in a subdued monochromatic palette. There weren’t many furnishings.

At the height of his career in the 1960s and 1970s, he stood for an American aesthetic against more prevalent European trends. Designers who want to produce contemporary, understated luxury have been influenced by his belief in elegant minimalism with a dash of industrial bravado, like a rubber base on a cocktail table. (Chicago Tribune 18 Aug 2003, Page 1-10 – Newspapers.com, n.d.) 

He produced more than 100 designs for Brickel. In 1990, in response to the trend towards smaller executive offices, he created a 22-piece furniture collection for Geiger International. In the late 1980s, Sasaki produced his Double Helix stainless-steel flatware and the Sengai crystal collection.

His apartment was legendary in the world of New York interior design. It was created in 1962 from a maze of maids’ quarters hidden beneath the rooftop gables of the majestic Dakota building on the upper west side of Manhattan. In a 1964 article about home furnishings, New York Times Magazine reporter George O’Brien described it as “the most exciting modern apartment in New York.”

In addition to his best-known industrial goods, he created furniture, textiles, and jewellery. Gianni Agnelli, an Italian businessman, and David Rockefeller and the Chase Manhattan Bank were among his clients. Moreover, Tiffany’s and Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner were among them.

Use of Industrial Materials

Before the high-tech look gained popularity in the 1970s, he was one of the first American designers to use industrial materials in the home.

He added a cardboard I-beam base to a table while keeping practicality in mind. He also transformed a steel subway grate into a window stool. The Museum of Modern Art’s permanent design collection includes several of his vase and flatware creations.

By 1979, he had designed more than 100 chairs, including the University Chair, for the desk at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. Johnson requested that the seat evoke a cross between a barroom armchair, a courtroom chair, and a Western saddle.

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

Lovine, V. (n.d.). Furniture Creator Had a Distinct American Style. Chicago Tribune 18 Aug 2003, page Page 1-10 – Newspapers.com. Retrieved March 19, 2023, from https://www.newspapers.com/image/231882085/?terms=%22Ward%20Bennett%22%20designer&match=1

Nast, C., & A. (2017, October 13). Remembering Designer Ward Bennett. Architectural Digest. Retrieved March 19, 2023, from https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/remembering-designer-ward-bennett

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