Don Charles Albinson was an American industrial designer who made many contributions to the world of furniture.
15 Facts About Don Albinson
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Don Albinson later developed the Knoll Stack chair, the Westinghouse office line, an update to the DoMore Series 7 landscape system named Neo 7, the Albi stack chair for Fixtures, and the Bounce chair for Stylex.
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Don Albinson attended Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1939, where he met Charles Eames, Ray Kaiser, Harry Bertoia, Eliel Saarinen, Eero Saarinen and Ralph Rapson.
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Don Albinson met his future wife, Nancy Blair Wilcox, at Cranbrook as well.
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Don Albinson was drafted and served as a pilot in World War II.
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Don Albinson was the lead designer for the 13 years he worked in the office.
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Don Albinson helped with the construction the Eames Case Study House in Pacific Palisades in 1949, as well as the Max DePree House in Zeeland, Michigan along with numerous other furniture and film projects.
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In 1964 Don Albinson moved the family to southeastern Pennsylvania; he had been offered the position of Design Director for Knoll, in East Greenville, Pennsylvania.
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Don Albinson was tasked with getting a number of challenging projects into production, as well as given the opportunity to shepherd his own chair design into production, the iconic 1601 stacking chair.
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Don Albinson was design director from 1964 to 1971; during his tenure he put into production such seminal furniture pieces as the Pollack Executive chair, the Platner Steel Wire Lounge collection, the Don Petitt chair, and many others.
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Don Albinson was the Design Director at Knoll until 1971.
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In 1974 Westinghouse introduced the ASD Group of office seating, which Don Albinson designed, and it remained a very successful line for many years.
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In 1984 Don Albinson redesigned the DoMore Series 7 landscape furniture system, rebranding it the Neo 7 System.
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Don Albinson was said to have approached each project with an element of curiosity, research and engineering, ultimately weaving those elements into the aesthetics of the specific challenge.
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Don Albinson mentored and influenced many young designers, and his legacy touched many lives, in a truly positive way.