Charles "Chuck" Harrison

rdf:langString Charles "Chuck" Harrison

rdf:langString Charles "Chuck" Harrison (September 23, 1931 — November 29, 2018) was an American industrial designer, speaker and educator. He was known for his pioneering role as one of the first African-American industrial designers of the era and the first to lead a design department at a major corporation. He was the first African-American executive to work at Sears, Roebuck and Company, starting in 1961 as a designer and eventually becoming manager of the company's entire design group. He was involved in the design of over 750 consumer products, including the portable hair dryer, toasters, stereos, lawn mowers, sewing machines, Craftsman power tools, the see-through measuring cup, fondue pots, stoves, and the first plastic trash can, which has been credited with changing the sound of trash collection day. Perhaps his most famous achievement was leading the team that updated the View-Master in 1958, designing the classic Model F View-Master. A Stone Age version of the virtual reality viewer, it allowed users to look at photographs in three dimensions. Two inventors introduced the first version, a bulky model, at the World’s Fair in 1939, and it became a specialty item used mainly by photographers. This iconic product sold with only minor colour changes for over 40 years and could be found in almost every US household and households throughout the world. Charles mentioned that one of his inspirations was Charles Eames for his chairs and furniture design. Elliot Noyes for his product designs, primarily typewriters for IBM.