The Shear Look

[panthera]

I found this endearing little note in the Wikipedia article on Cadillac - a GM brand - design for the 21st century:
...and has instead pressed ahead with a new design philosophy for the 21st century called "art and science"[1] which it says "incorporates sharp, shear forms and crisp edges — a form vocabulary that expresses bold, high-technology design and invokes the technology used to design it."
Good taste is and remains good taste.
The shear look lives on!
(And aren't YOU glad nobody thought to put dagmars on Unimatics?)

 

[tomturbomatic]

They use the shears to get the sharp, crisp edges.

 

[panthera]

Tom,

You're just a real cut-up.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Keven, you're just sharp period with your incisive humor and your penetrating blue eyes.

 

[sudsmaster]

I thought it was spelled "sheer look"

 

[brettsomers]

our webmaster has done more to promote the *sheer* look than Joan Rivers with facelifts!

 

[panthera]

OK, Rich...

Tom got it right away, you're pretty sharp yourself.
I took me a few minutes to stop laughing after I read that before I could post it.
My spelling is so bad (all languages) that I always use a spell checker before I publish anything. Either GM no longer cares or knows the difference.
Although, in Joan River's case, I suppose both spellings apply equally well.
In 1959, Time magazine published a list of the 100 Best designed modern products. Our dears were on the list! Take a look at the link, if you are interested.
How many "sheer look" pictures are out there? I remember seeing at least four or five folks portraying it...but can't find any. Anybody want to share?

http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,937094,00.html

 

[vivalalavatrice]

I didn't have any doubt!

The first is an Italian design object!!! I'm proud of that, because I saw that machine and a friend of mine has it... It's a very preciuouse object so I didn't ask to him to let me try it...
BYE
Diomede

 

[panthera]

Diomede,

This should not surprise you. Italian design is wonderful.
One of my grandfathers was an engineer. He tells me how *his* grandfather designed things in Italy. Then he had his designs built in Switzerland or Germany.
Italian design and German engineering are as good as it gets.
You can be proud of that.
Oh, I had a Lettera...she was beautiful and tempermental. "Una macchina impossibile" my grandfather would call it when he had to write off to Italy for replacement parts, again...in those days they did not speak English at Olivetti, I don't speak Italian (sadly) but the machine got me all the way through my first published article!
Now that I know the "sheer look" was on the top ten list, I understand why GM put so much money into that over-the-top video (on this site) and advertising - they had something to be proud of.

 

[gansky1]

[No message]

 

[sudsmaster]

How quick they forget

By 1959 the "Sheer Look" was all but gone, apparently by Royal Command:

 

[sudsmaster]

But still not without loads of fun

Just look at them bubbles!

 

[sudsmaster]

Do you know your three rings?

"Lint Chaser"

"Ciculator"

"Energy Ring"

How many does YOUR washer have?

(I think they left out the "tangler" ring, LOL!)

 

[toggleswitch]

I still say that woman is possibly of Mediteranean extraction and is hiding her moustache.

*LOL*

 

[panthera]

Steve,

a moustache may be hidden, but the question (esp. on this site) of whether that is a woman...
These pictures are lovely.
What an exciting time that was - balanced between true technical progress, an interest in design and quality...and the twin evils of planned obsolesence and today's management style seeping in through the cracks.
We all know who won - but I love the pretty dreams.
Did any other manufacturer have the financial resources/interest to make styling such a selling point? GE comes to mind, but did they have one central focus like Frigidaire?

 

[bajaespuma]

GE introduced "straight-line styling" with its 1957 TOL Filter-flo models. They quickly applied it to all of their other appliances if you look at the history. Streamlining was abandoned overnight for "straight-lining". Actually, one thing I've learned from visiting this site is that there was a very healthy competition between GM and General Electric in those days. Both were very much aware of what the Jonses were doing.

Take a look at this made in 1957:

 

[bajaespuma]

and compare it to this made in 1958:

 

[bajaespuma]

then take a look at this, made in 1964:

 

[bajaespuma]

and compare it to this made in the mid-sixties:

 

[bajaespuma]

Of course Frigidaire always had the advantage of drawing on the industrial design skills of their automobile division (ha!).
I think one of the reasons I've always been fascinated by the GEs and Frigidaires is that there's been a dialogue between them for years until, of course, everything became boring and homogenous. They took design risks. Just beginning to take the Frigidaire that I got from Stonington apart I'm amazed by the engineering work and design that went into them. How we as a culture could dispose of such great work is beyond me. From the little I've seen of Montgomery Wards models in the late 50's and early 60's they were doing some impressive stuff too.

 

[mixfinder]

Bloated Nothingness

I was a kid in the fifties and totally appliance addicted.

I watched the introduction of the Streamlined Sheer look roll out and instantly hated all the fat, shapeless appliances holding out in kitchens everywhere.

I was spellbound as Frigidaire introduced amazing and beautiful design innovations year after year.

I love and live to cook. It has been my hobby, avocation and source of income my entire life.

I used nothing but Frigidaire, in my own home and reveled in the magnifinence of design, dependibility and consistent performance.

As I moved more into presenting finished baked goods for critical testing and photo work, NOTHING has ever compared to ease, grace and dependablilty of a Frigidaire range made by GM.

I walked into an appliance store in December of 1979 to buy appliances for a new house. I looked in horror and disbelief to see what had happened to my trusted and beloved Frigidaire brand. I was shell shocked. If there had been a naming of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome in 1979, I am convinced I would have fit the diagnosis.

I am sickened by the "new" rounded design of appliances so reminiscent of those from the forties, being pushed today by all the American manufacturers.

Big, fat, hollow, bloated nothingness. It is a horrible thing to witness the death of an era. It is even more horrifying to watch the public lap it up with round glazed eyes and be so very, very pleased with the newest and best.

I guess, for me, this is what Memorial day is about. Grieving the trivialization of the works of Master's and the death of quality.

Kelly

 

[sudsmaster]

I think design is also strongly influenced by the availability of new matrials and methods.

For example, it took advances in sheet metal stamping technology to allow the complex curves of new car designs of the late 50's.

The "straight-line" look of '59 and later seems to replace cast seamless frames with built-up frames comprised of cast corner pieces and straight pieces of extruded chromed aluminum. I am theorizing that the availability in the late 50's of customized extruded aluminum fostered this styling development. Prior to that, I figure the factories were still struggling to keep up with demand for non-customized extrusions.

Of course the cast frames are stronger, easier to clean, and look better (to me at least). But you can't argue with cost efficiency.

 

[tomturbomatic]

It was advances in bonding porcelain to sharper corners of steel that allowed the straight, sheer, sleek etc. appliance lines starting in 1957. Kenmore stuck with the old for a while.

 

[bajaespuma]

What Mixfinder said!!

I so agree with you.

As I've told so many friends who were trying to decide between Gas and Electric for cooking options, NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING was as well designed as a GM Frigidaire electric stove. I would still take one of them over ANY home gas stove on the market today. Those fat coil burners could bring a pot of water to boil faster than any other non-commercial burner.

What a waste!!!

 

[jamiel]

And their later control design (with the 180 degree turn) had to be the best electric control out there (at a glance see how hot the burner was).

My aunt (who taught cooking classes in her house and wrote cookbooks) had an interesting setup (in her 30' by 15' kitchen--it was beautiful)built in 1970 and in avocado (!)

KA dishwasher
3 sinks (3-bowl with disposer in middle, single bowl with disposer, bar sink)
30" Frigidaire cooktop
2 30" Frigidaire wall ovens
2 warming drawers
1 two-burner gas cooktop
SxS Frigidaire refrigerator (with door mounted ice bin)

In the pantry/laundry room (right behind the kitchen)

the previous Norge bottom-freezer refrigerator (probably mid-60s)
a gorgeous 6' long Frigidaire chest freezer with two lids that had to have come from the early 1950s...it had very little space and the walls were about 6" thick
Maytag converted coin-op washer and dryer (my uncle had access to commercial laundry stuff b/c he owned some motels)

Had Brie cheese for the first time visiting her. Every visit was an experience.

 

[paulg]

A Sheer-look moment...

I should have known.
Stupid story...
I was in high-school approx 1978. Went to visit a friend's house. The moment I walked in the door I said to myself "Wow, they have a Sheer-Look refrigerator!" I kept my Sheer-Look desires to myself as my commoner friends wouldn't understand good design...
I was really p**ssed off several years later when they replaced it with a bland new Frigidaire (which still works to this day incidentally).
I should have known the appliance industry had sucked me into their world. No regrets though...

 

[ovrphil]

Dancing With Refrigerators: "Frigidaire Finale" 1957

An old thread here that sent me looking at some of the 1957 Frigidaire Ads and stumbled upon "Dancing With Refrigerators: "Frigidaire Finale" 1957 Frigidaire Division, General Motors Corporation " on YouTube. If this video ad from 1957 was posted here at aw.org before, I didn't catch it. So, it's a fun video that reflects another world. Imagine this being done today for appliances? The choreography is ...well you decide!

Interesting, at 1:14 you'll see a black Frigidaire Imperial refrigerator that the female dancer perches from. Was black an extra cost option, I wonder?

 

[appnut]

Phil, if Frigidaire didn't charge for decorator colors back then, the charcoal would be no different.  And if they did charge extra, then yes for all color. 

 

[ovrphil]

Makes sense, Bob. Thanks.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

Personally, I loved the freezer door opening by foot pedal and the one lever ice ejection from the freezing tray into the storage bin. I remember those trays. They could send ice cubes 20 feet across a room if you didn't do it right, lol.

Yes, def another world. I think we need to remember that in '57 there were still A LOT of people who'd grown up with the ice man making regular deliveries so there was still a bit of a 'WOW!' factor involved.

Cool vid. Thanks.

Jim