Pendant Lamp, Model NS801

Lucia DeRespinis began her career as an industrial designer after receiving her Bachelor’s of Industrial Design degree from Pratt Institute in 1952. At Pratt, she was one of two women in a class of 64 men, but took inspiration from pathbreaking professors such as Eva Zeisel and Rowena Reed Kostellow. Over the past 60 years, DeRespinis has designed across typologies, creating the globally recognizable Dunkin Donut Logo as well as lighting, ceramics, interiors, packaging and tableware for clients such as American Airlines, Abbott Laboratories, Delco Tableware, Walker China and Herman Miller furniture. She translated this expansive practice into a commitment to design education, teaching at her alma mater for more than 40 years from 1979 to 2020 when she retired at the age of 93.

Pioneering American designer and entrepreneur George Nelson employed DeRespinis at his eponymous firm from 1954-1963. She began as a junior designer tasked with answering phones in a male dominated work culture, and quickly advanced to a senior designer role. At Nelson, DeRespinis designed several of the firm’s expressive clocks under the mentorship of Irving Harper,[1] contributed to the design of the Chrysler Pavilion for the 1964 World’s Fair, was part of the team (including Charles and Ray Eames and Buckminster Fuller) to produce the Cold War era 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow, and conceived of numerous product designs.

DeRespinis’s designs for Nelson exhibit inventive combinations of materials and forms. She often married natural and engineered shapes, as seen in her Net lights from 1959 that cocoon tubular armatures with translucent vinyl-sprayed fishnet; her Eye Clock that punctuates the bent-wood outline of a human eye with playful geometric arms; and her Beehive pendant that nestles a glowing honeycomb within a stark hexagonal pyramid hood.

This Beehive pendant was part of an indoor/outdoor “Leisure Lighting” ensemble designed by DeRespinis in 1960 (as seen in the attached image) that included the Triple Light, Lamp Post, Bracket Light and a standing version of the Beehive. The Beehive’s striking form with textured black hood stands out in the series, and is a notable contribution to the lexicon of American design established mid twentieth century through the innovation and promotion of leading design offices such as Nelson’s. The lamp also gains access to the story of women designers whose grit, creativity and generosity opened up the discipline to future generations.

Pendant Lamp, Model NS801; Designed by Lucia DeRespinis (American, born 1927); Office of George Nelson Associates (United States); Manufactured by Nessen Studios, Inc. (United States); enameled steel, acrylic, metal; H x W x D: 35.6 × 50.8 × 44.5 cm (14 in. × 20 in. × 17 1/2 in.); Gift of Kim and Al Eiber; 2022-14-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection.