Industrial design—the practice of optimizing the function, value, and appearance of products—is a central component in America’s culture of consumerism as well as the source of many beautiful objects now in the collections of leading art and history museums. We have a number of significant twentieth-century collections that chronicle the evolution of the concepts, products, and processes specific to industrial design here at the Hagley Library, so we definitely wouldn’t want to miss noting that today is World Industrial Design Day, an international day of observance celebrated throughout the world in recognition of the establishment of the World Design Organization, founded on this day, June 29th, in 1957. In honor of World Industrial Design Day, we’re sharing this technical drawing from 1950 for industrial designer Thomas Babbit Lamb’s famous Wedge-Lock handle. Lamb became know as the “Handle Man” after having undertaken thousands of hours studying medical textbooks and the hand in order to help create a better crutch for the veterans he saw returning home after World War II. Though the crutch he designed was never manufactured, the patents he developed for the wedge-lock and universal handle were widely adapted to everyday items such as cookware, cutlery, and luggage.
