Mid2Mod: Paul Tuttle

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Paul Tuttle

Paul Tuttle (1918-2002) was born in Springfield, Missouri, and live in St. Louis until World War II. He was an Air Force cartographer and was stationed in India, where the architecture influenced his decision to pursue a career in design.

He studied at the Art Center School in Los Angeles (now Art Center College of Design in Pasadena). His talent captured the attention of Alvin Lustig, and he worked for a short time in Lustig's studio. He also apprenticed with architects Welton Becket and Thornton Ladd. In 1949 he participated in Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesen West Fellowship in Scottsdale, Arizona.

In 1951 his handmade wood table was included in the Good Design exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1958 Tuttle became the design consultant for a Swiss pharmaceutical company, and from then on, he maintained dual careers in Europe and Santa Barbara, California. In the 1960s he designed houses in the Santa Barbara area but earned his greatest acclaim for furniture designs in sculpted wood and geometric stainless steel. From 1968 to 1983, he was a designer for Strässle International, a Swiss furniture manufacturer, where he was encouraged to experiment with new materials and technologies.

By the mid-1960s Tuttle had earned a retrospective exhibition at the Pasadena Art Museum. In 1966 he won the prestigious Carson Pirie Scott Young Designer Award for his widely acclaimed Z Chair. In 1982 he received a design grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Tuttle's archives, including some drawings, manuscripts and selected pieces of furniture, will be kept at the Architecture and Design Collection of UC Santa Barbara's University Art Museum.

From latimes.com and straessle.biz