The Contempra Telephone 1967. John Tyson, a recent graduate of the Ontario College of Art (OCAD), joined Northern Electric's Carling Campus in Ottawa as their first industrial designer. A few months later he was asked to design a new phone that could be built at their London, Ontario factory using as many Canadian components as possible. Tyson also took the advice of his teachers at OCAD and designed two phones, his own new design and another that exactly met the original requirements management had set down, which produced "an amorphous blob". About 18 months after joining Northern Electric he presented both models; his design immediately caught their eye and the original requirements were forgotten. This was followed by a naming contest, which was initially leaning toward either "Expo", due to the upcoming Expo 67, or "Tinkerbell", a play on the name of Dreyfuss' Princess. Tyson eventually convinced everyone that Contempra was the right name. #toronto #design #industrialdesign #ocadu #bellnorthern #canada #canadiandesign (at Toronto, Ontario) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKwsD52Mv95/?igshid=11h330sb3xsxz
