Hasta La Ideas

We were excited to report on the forthcoming Industrial Design History set of stamps, but we realize many of you may not have heard of everyone chosen for the stamps. Either because you didn’t study ID in college or, like me, your ID History professor’s droning monotone had anaesthetic properties that knocked you out every time.

Loewy, Teague, Bel Geddes, Dreyfuss you probably know. So let’s take a look at the rest, starting with Frederick Hurten Rhead.

Rhead was a potter from England who emigrated to the U.S. in 1902. And if you think your job sucks, Rhead’s probably got you beat–after bouncing around the ‘States, he found himself in California working at a tuberculosis sanatorium, teaching pottery to patients.

Eventually he opened his own pottery studio, and by 1927 got a job as art director for the Homer Laughlin China Company in West Virginia. In the ’30s he came up with a line of ceramics called Fiesta, and that’s what got him his own stamp.

Anyone think the Eameses saw these and went “Hmmm….”?

The innovation of Fiesta was that, unlike other dinnerware at the time, Rhead decided it should be sold as individual pieces rather than in a set. Along with the bright, pop-py color palette he did them in, this would encourage consumers to mix and match, allowing for some fun customization in an era of drab product uniformity. (The fact that you could buy just one plate at a time rather than all four, in the midst of the Great Depression, probably didn’t hurt either.)

Interestingly enough, Rhead’s ceramic plates and other objects, like the water pitchers on the stamp, required uranium mixed in with the glaze to get those vibrant colors.

The Homer Laughlin China Company still makes Fiestaware today, albeit without the radioactive glaze.

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