Overview of the Collection |
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| Creator: | Pirkl, James Joseph, 1930- |
| Title: | James Pirkl Papers |
| Inclusive Dates: | 1936-1994 |
| Quantity: | 75 linear ft. |
| Abstract: | Papers of the American industrial designer, pioneer in transgenerational design and disability issues. Retired in 1992 as Chair of the Dept. of Design, Syracuse University, where he had taught since 1965. Collection includes correspondence, blueprints, drawings, and client files. |
| Language: | English |
| Repository: | Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 http://scrc.syr.edu |
James Pirkl (1930- ) is an award-winning American industrial designer and educator, known particularly for his work in transgenerational design.
Born in Nyack, New York, Pirkl graduated from Pratt Institute’s Advertising Design program (1951) and went on to earn his BID cum laude in industrial design (1958). He joined the General Motors Design Staff as a junior designer, rising to senior project designer responsible for the design of the "Avenue of Progress" section of the General Motors Futurama pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair. Subsequently promoted to assistant chief designer of Frigidaire's Advanced Product Research Studio, he was recruited by Syracuse University and appointed assistant professor of industrial design in 1965. Promoted to associate professor in 1970 and full professor in 1974, he was named professor-in-charge of industrial design in 1978 and served as department chair from 1985 until his retirement as Professor Emeritus in 1993.
In addition to his academic responsibilities he served as an industrial design consultant to a wide range of organizations both in the United States and overseas, including Age Wave, Inc., the Arthritis Foundation, Asahikasei Homes Co. (Japan), The Boeing Company, Design Age (London), Ford Motor Design Center, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, McNeil Consumer Products, the National Association of Home Builders, and Xerox Corporation. He also collaborated on design projects with such notable industrial designers as George A. Beck, Arthur Crapsey, Mark Harrison, Arthur J. Pulos, and Robert G. Smith. In 1976, under the sponsorship of the U.S. State Department, he was one of five American industrial design educators invited to conduct seminars on industrial design education at the All (Soviet) Union Research Institute of Industrial Design (VNITTE) in Moscow, USSR, and again in 1978 at The Bauhaus in Dessau, East Germany.
Pirkl is the founding director of Transgenerational Design Matters, a design consultancy for the 50+ market, and has been described as a "key figure in universal design" by the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum. He is widely acknowledged as the father of "transgenerational design," a term he coined and defined in 1984 as "the practice of making products and environments compatible with those physical and sensory impairments associated with human aging and which limit major activities of daily living." In 2003, AARP's The Magazine featured his Transgenerational House project's pioneering design concepts.
He is a frequent lecturer and presenter in the U.S. and abroad, and his articles appear in numerous international journals and periodicals. He is the co-author of Guidelines and Strategies for Designing Transgenerational Products (1988), and his Transgenerational Design: Products for an Aging Population, received a 1994 Gold Industrial Design Excellence Award.
A member of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) since 1972, Pirkl served as a board member, regional vice president, and chairman of its Central New York Chapter. He also chaired IDSA's Education Committee, its first Universal Design Committee, and the Accreditation Council, which, in 1984, established the first school evaluation and accreditation agreement between IDSA and NASAD (the National Association of Schools of Art and Design). IDSA named him a Fellow in 1985 and in 2001 presented him with the Society's esteemed Education Award. He is a life member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, the Authors Guild, and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.
Presently (2009) James Pirkl lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wife, Sarah, and their three children.
[Biographical sketch provided by James Pirkl, 2009.]
The James Pirkl Papers includes correspondence, blueprints, drawings, and client files.
There are no access restrictions on this material.
Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.
Special Collections Research Center has the papers of a number of important industrial designers and companies. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing.
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
James Pirkl Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Library
Created by: [Summit record]
Date: 1994-10-25
Revision history: 12 Oct 2007 - converted to EAD (MRC);
20 Oct 2009 - bio updated (MRC)
This collection has not yet been processed and is accessible by special permission only. Please contact the repository listed above for further information.
