Free from "styling," this receiver conforms to the modernist view that form should follow function. "A good design," Kaufmann wrote, "will never pretend to be more than one thing at a time. . . . Beware the radio that looks like a tea caddy." By the end of World War II, Hallicrafters, an Army supplier, was an established name in shortwave radio. In 1944 the company turned its attention from technically minded ham radio operators to amateur and professional markets. Their postwar models covered the widest tuning range of any commercial receivers at the time and could be used for standard broadcast—even by children. The Loewy office designed these radio cases with hinged tops for access to the inner workings and color-coded controls arranged according to function.
Gallery label from What Was Good Design? MoMA's Message 1944–56, May 6, 2009–January 10, 2011.
Free from surface styling, this receiver conforms to the modernist view that form should follow function. "A good design will never pretend to be more than one thing at a time" wrote MoMA curator Edgar Kaufmann Jnr, warning readers to "[b]eware the radio that looks like a tea caddy." By the end of World War II, Hallicrafters, an army supplier, was an established name in shortwave radio. In 1944 the company turned its attention from technically minded ham radio operators to amateur and professional markets. Their postwar models covered the widest tuning range of any commercial receivers at the time and could be used for standard broadcast.
Gallery label from Making Music Modern: Design for Ear and Eye, November 15, 2014–January 17, 2016.
