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Thread Number: 6504
The Shear Look |
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Post# 131016 5/24/2006 at 13:44 (6,540 days old) by panthera  (Rocky Mountains) |
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I found this endearing little note in the Wikipedia article on Cadillac - a GM brand - design for the 21st century: ...and has instead pressed ahead with a new design philosophy for the 21st century called "art and science"[1] which it says "incorporates sharp, shear forms and crisp edges — a form vocabulary that expresses bold, high-technology design and invokes the technology used to design it." Good taste is and remains good taste. The shear look lives on! (And aren't YOU glad nobody thought to put dagmars on Unimatics?) | ||
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Post# 131191 , Reply# 1 5/25/2006 at 09:25 (6,539 days old) by tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD) |
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They use the shears to get the sharp, crisp edges. | ||
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Post# 131281 , Reply# 2 5/25/2006 at 17:20 (6,539 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains) |
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Tom, | ||
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Post# 131343 , Reply# 3 5/26/2006 at 07:24 (6,538 days old) by tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD) |
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Keven, you're just sharp period with your incisive humor and your penetrating blue eyes. | ||
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Post# 131423 , Reply# 4 5/27/2006 at 00:46 (6,538 days old) by sudsmaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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| Post# 131425 , Reply# 5 5/27/2006 at 00:57 (6,538 days old) by brettsomers () | ||
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our webmaster has done more to promote the *sheer* look than Joan Rivers with facelifts! | ||
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Post# 131429 , Reply# 6 5/27/2006 at 01:57 (6,538 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains) |
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OK, Rich...
Tom got it right away, you're pretty sharp yourself. I took me a few minutes to stop laughing after I read that before I could post it. My spelling is so bad (all languages) that I always use a spell checker before I publish anything. Either GM no longer cares or knows the difference. Although, in Joan River's case, I suppose both spellings apply equally well. In 1959, Time magazine published a list of the 100 Best designed modern products. Our dears were on the list! Take a look at the link, if you are interested. How many "sheer look" pictures are out there? I remember seeing at least four or five folks portraying it...but can't find any. Anybody want to share? CLICK HERE TO GO TO panthera's LINK | ||
| Post# 131460 , Reply# 7 5/27/2006 at 13:14 (6,537 days old) by vivalalavatrice () | ||
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I didn't have any doubt! The first is an Italian design object!!! I'm proud of that, because I saw that machine and a friend of mine has it... It's a very preciuouse object so I didn't ask to him to let me try it... BYE Diomede | ||
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Post# 131462 , Reply# 8 5/27/2006 at 14:00 (6,537 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains) |
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Diomede,
This should not surprise you. Italian design is wonderful. One of my grandfathers was an engineer. He tells me how *his* grandfather designed things in Italy. Then he had his designs built in Switzerland or Germany. Italian design and German engineering are as good as it gets. You can be proud of that. Oh, I had a Lettera...she was beautiful and tempermental. "Una macchina impossibile" my grandfather would call it when he had to write off to Italy for replacement parts, again...in those days they did not speak English at Olivetti, I don't speak Italian (sadly) but the machine got me all the way through my first published article! Now that I know the "sheer look" was on the top ten list, I understand why GM put so much money into that over-the-top video (on this site) and advertising - they had something to be proud of. | ||
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Post# 131466 , Reply# 9 5/27/2006 at 16:40 (6,537 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!) |
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Post# 131482 , Reply# 10 5/27/2006 at 19:08 (6,537 days old) by sudsmaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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How quick they forget | ||
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Post# 131484 , Reply# 11 5/27/2006 at 19:11 (6,537 days old) by sudsmaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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But still not without loads of fun | ||
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Post# 131485 , Reply# 12 5/27/2006 at 19:16 (6,537 days old) by sudsmaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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Do you know your three rings? | ||
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Post# 131511 , Reply# 13 5/27/2006 at 22:37 (6,537 days old) by toggleswitch (New York City, NY) |
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Post# 131546 , Reply# 14 5/28/2006 at 01:26 (6,537 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains) |
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Steve,
a moustache may be hidden, but the question (esp. on this site) of whether that is a woman... These pictures are lovely. What an exciting time that was - balanced between true technical progress, an interest in design and quality...and the twin evils of planned obsolesence and today's management style seeping in through the cracks. We all know who won - but I love the pretty dreams. Did any other manufacturer have the financial resources/interest to make styling such a selling point? GE comes to mind, but did they have one central focus like Frigidaire? | ||
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Post# 131590 , Reply# 15 5/28/2006 at 10:04 (6,536 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut) |
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GE introduced "straight-line styling" with its 1957 TOL Filter-flo models. They quickly applied it to all of their other appliances if you look at the history. Streamlining was abandoned overnight for "straight-lining". Actually, one thing I've learned from visiting this site is that there was a very healthy competition between GM and General Electric in those days. Both were very much aware of what the Jonses were doing. Take a look at this made in 1957: 
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Post# 131592 , Reply# 16 5/28/2006 at 10:05 (6,536 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut) |
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Post# 131593 , Reply# 17 5/28/2006 at 10:07 (6,536 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut) |
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Post# 131594 , Reply# 18 5/28/2006 at 10:09 (6,536 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut) |
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Post# 131596 , Reply# 19 5/28/2006 at 10:15 (6,536 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut) |
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Of course Frigidaire always had the advantage of drawing on the industrial design skills of their automobile division (ha!). I think one of the reasons I've always been fascinated by the GEs and Frigidaires is that there's been a dialogue between them for years until, of course, everything became boring and homogenous. They took design risks. Just beginning to take the Frigidaire that I got from Stonington apart I'm amazed by the engineering work and design that went into them. How we as a culture could dispose of such great work is beyond me. From the little I've seen of Montgomery Wards models in the late 50's and early 60's they were doing some impressive stuff too. | ||
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Post# 131674 , Reply# 21 5/28/2006 at 22:38 (6,536 days old) by sudsmaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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I think design is also strongly influenced by the availability of new matrials and methods. For example, it took advances in sheet metal stamping technology to allow the complex curves of new car designs of the late 50's. The "straight-line" look of '59 and later seems to replace cast seamless frames with built-up frames comprised of cast corner pieces and straight pieces of extruded chromed aluminum. I am theorizing that the availability in the late 50's of customized extruded aluminum fostered this styling development. Prior to that, I figure the factories were still struggling to keep up with demand for non-customized extrusions. Of course the cast frames are stronger, easier to clean, and look better (to me at least). But you can't argue with cost efficiency. | ||
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Post# 131710 , Reply# 22 5/29/2006 at 02:13 (6,536 days old) by tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD) |
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It was advances in bonding porcelain to sharper corners of steel that allowed the straight, sheer, sleek etc. appliance lines starting in 1957. Kenmore stuck with the old for a while. | ||
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Post# 132117 , Reply# 23 5/31/2006 at 06:49 (6,533 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut) |
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What Mixfinder said!!
I so agree with you. As I've told so many friends who were trying to decide between Gas and Electric for cooking options, NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING was as well designed as a GM Frigidaire electric stove. I would still take one of them over ANY home gas stove on the market today. Those fat coil burners could bring a pot of water to boil faster than any other non-commercial burner. What a waste!!! 
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Post# 132120 , Reply# 24 5/31/2006 at 07:19 (6,533 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA) |
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And their later control design (with the 180 degree turn) had to be the best electric control out there (at a glance see how hot the burner was). My aunt (who taught cooking classes in her house and wrote cookbooks) had an interesting setup (in her 30' by 15' kitchen--it was beautiful)built in 1970 and in avocado (!) KA dishwasher 3 sinks (3-bowl with disposer in middle, single bowl with disposer, bar sink) 30" Frigidaire cooktop 2 30" Frigidaire wall ovens 2 warming drawers 1 two-burner gas cooktop SxS Frigidaire refrigerator (with door mounted ice bin) In the pantry/laundry room (right behind the kitchen) the previous Norge bottom-freezer refrigerator (probably mid-60s) a gorgeous 6' long Frigidaire chest freezer with two lids that had to have come from the early 1950s...it had very little space and the walls were about 6" thick Maytag converted coin-op washer and dryer (my uncle had access to commercial laundry stuff b/c he owned some motels) Had Brie cheese for the first time visiting her. Every visit was an experience. | ||
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Post# 132575 , Reply# 25 6/2/2006 at 01:02 (6,532 days old) by paulg (My sweet home... Chicago) |
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A Sheer-look moment...
I should have known. Stupid story... I was in high-school approx 1978. Went to visit a friend's house. The moment I walked in the door I said to myself "Wow, they have a Sheer-Look refrigerator!" I kept my Sheer-Look desires to myself as my commoner friends wouldn't understand good design... I was really p**ssed off several years later when they replaced it with a bland new Frigidaire (which still works to this day incidentally). I should have known the appliance industry had sucked me into their world. No regrets though... | ||
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Post# 846358 , Reply# 26 10/17/2015 at 23:01 (3,107 days old) by ovrphil (N.Atlanta / Georgia ) |
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Dancing With Refrigerators: "Frigidaire Finale" 1957
An old thread here that sent me looking at some of the 1957 Frigidaire Ads and stumbled upon "Dancing With Refrigerators: "Frigidaire Finale" 1957 Frigidaire Division, General Motors Corporation " on YouTube. If this video ad from 1957 was posted here at aw.org before, I didn't catch it. So, it's a fun video that reflects another world. Imagine this being done today for appliances? The choreography is ...well you decide!
Interesting, at 1:14 you'll see a black Frigidaire Imperial refrigerator that the female dancer perches from. Was black an extra cost option, I wonder? CLICK HERE TO GO TO ovrphil's LINK | ||
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Post# 846359 , Reply# 27 10/17/2015 at 23:03 (3,107 days old) by appnut (TX) |
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Post# 846367 , Reply# 28 10/17/2015 at 23:32 (3,107 days old) by ovrphil (N.Atlanta / Georgia ) |
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