May 2009 Alumni Spotlight: Charles Harrison, BFA 1954
Industrial designer Charles Harrison is most famous for his work on the team that updated the View-Master, but examples of his innovations can be seen virtually everywhere. Harrison rarely visits a home that does not contain something he designed.
After completing his studies at SAIC, one of his early design jobs was with the small firm of Robert Podall Associates. It was here that, in 1958, Harrison joined the team that streamlined the legendary View-Master toy. In 1961, he was hired by Sears Roebuck & Company. Harrison worked at Sears for thirty-two years, rising to the position of design department manager.
Harrison has served as an adjunct professor of design at the University of Illinois at Chicago since 1993. In 2000, his design work was featured in an exhibit: The World of a Product Designer: Charles Harrison at his former high school, Phoenix Union Colored High School, now the Carver Museum and Cultural Center. In 2003, Harrison began teaching classes at Columbia College. In 2008, Harrison received the lifetime achievement award from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum at the Smithsonian Institution.
Charles is a 2009 Recipient of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Honorary Doctorate.
All images from A Life's Design: The Life and Work of Industrial Designer Charles Harrison (Ibis Design Incorporated, 2005)
Hearing Aids View-Master
Barber shop chair 1954 Chair design
Electric trivots Charles after graduation from SAIC
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May 2009 Alumni Spotlight: Charles Harrison, BFA 1954
