Viktor Schreckengost (June 26, 1906 – January 26, 2008) was an American industrial designer as well as a teacher, sculptor, and artist. His wide-ranging work included noted pottery designs, industrial design, bicycle design and seminal research on radar feedback. Schreckengost's peers included designers Raymond Loewy, Norman Bel Geddes, Eva Zeisel, and Russel Wright.
Early life
Born and raised in Sebring, Ohio, Schreckengost was one of six children. His father worked at a ceramics factory from which he brought home material for his children to model. Every week he held a sculpture contest among the children, the winner of which accompanied his father on his weekend trip into the local big city, Alliance, Ohio. Only years later did Schreckengost realize that his father systematically rotated the winner. His younger brothers Donald and Paul Schreckengost also went on to careers as ceramicists.
Schreckengost graduated from the Cleveland School of the Arts (now the Cleveland Institute of Art) in 1929, at which time he earned a partial scholarship to study at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna. To make the trip, he borrowed $1,500 from two owners of Gem Clay, an industrial ceramics manufacturer in Sebring. When he returned six months later, Schreckengost paid back his loans — a lucky event for the men from Gem Clay, since separate bank failures during the Great Depression would have otherwise wiped them out.
Career
Schreckengost taught industrial design at the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) for more than 50 years and was a professor emeritus at CIA until his death. He was also the youngest faculty member ever at CIA (then known as the Cleveland School of the Arts). Schreckengost founded CIA's school of industrial design, the first of its kind in the country. His notable students include Giuseppe Delena, chief designer at Ford Motor Co.; Larry Nagode, principal designer at Fisher-Price (father of Ryan Nagode); Joe Oros, head of the studio at Ford that designed the 1965 Ford Mustang, Bill Saunders, Ryobi design director at Techtronic Industries, Sid Ramnarace, designer of the 5th generation Ford Mustang and Jerry Hirshberg, designer of the Infiniti J30 and the 1971 boat tail Buick Riviera.
Schreckengost enlisted in the Navy at age 37 to help the Allies in World War II. He was flown on secret missions to Europe, where he used his modeling knowledge to help improve the radar used in the Battle of the Bulge. Later he helped design prosthetics for wounded soldiers. He retired from the Naval Reserves as a captain. Schreckengost was also good friends with Cleveland safety director Eliot Ness.
Designs
The Viktor Schreckengost Foundation homepage indicates:
In 1930, Cowan Pottery received an order to create a "New-York-ish punch bowl" from Brownell-Lambertson Gallery on behalf of an undisclosed client. The project was assigned to their newest designer, Schreckengost, who would subsequently design the Jazz Bowl for Eleanor Roosevelt. She had special-ordered the item as a gift for Franklin D. Roosevelt to commemorate his second successful gubernatorial campaign. The bowl's popularity led to Cowan Pottery producing a collection of Schreckengost's New York designs on a variety of plates and bowls, until the sgraffito technique that the design relied on became too difficult to mass produce and the designs were discontinued.
He created (at the time) the largest freestanding ceramic sculpture in the world, Early Settler at Lakewood High School in Lakewood, Ohio. He designed bicycles manufactured by Murray bicycles for Murray and Sears, Roebuck and Company, chiefly the Mercury bicycle which was advertised as the "official bicycle" of the 1939 New York World's Fair where it was exhibited alongside some of his first sculptures.
While working at Cleveland's White Motor Company with engineer Ray Spiller, he designed the first truck with a cab-over-engine configuration, a design in use to this day. And he created simple, modern dinnerware designs that became popular throughout the United States.