Design-Technics

Lee Rosen, a graduate of Pratt Institute and an art teacher in the
NYC school system and her husband, Samuel Rosen, an engineer by trade,
found it difficult to aesthetically furnish their first city apartment
affordably. The Rosens were inspired to create their own decor for their
Greenwich Village home and the space soon became an attraction for many
creatives. This was to become the inspiration for starting their own
firm, Design-Technics. Their first office was a workshop with an
attached sales office where artist-craftsmen could determine whether
short production run lines would sell prior to approaching larger
manufacturers.

Design-Technics also became an accredited evening school for crafts.
Lee Rosen, as well as well-known artists and sculptors, such as Ossip
Zadkine, taught courses geared toward teachers.

During the war, there existed a restriction on materials, with the
exception of clay. This soon became the material the Rosens would focus
all their efforts on. The Rosens carried on their own experiments into
the material during the war and during this time opened a shop on 13th
Street in NYC. The original research involved developing techniques for
reproducing ceramic sculptures.

In July 1947, the Rosens registered Design-Technics as a sole
proprietorship in Pennsylvania in the hopes of bringing the good designs
of studio designers to market. The Rosens soon resolved the technical
problems of production, but the sales problems required the assistance
of a number of lauded sculptors who assisted in the promotion of
Design-Technics by producing works for them. Among these sculptors were
Jo Davidson and Peter Grippe. Soon, Richard Gump got wind that quality
items were selling well at Design-Technics and he arranged a display in
his San Francisco store. Whatever Gump touched seemed to turn to gold,
and it is easy to assume that this was another great break for the
Rosens.

By the 1950s, the Rosens had built a terraced home on the top of a
hill outside Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. At the base of the hill was a
sprawling, one-story barn-type structure which became the home for
Design-Technics' operations.

The firm's name, Design-Technics, implies the two faces of ceramic
design--art and engineering, the first represented by Lee and the
second, by her husband. At Design-Technics, no project was too lowly or
lofty for the Rosens. They were as comfortable potting ashtrays as they
were designing large, unique, architectural tiles and facades for
architects and interior designers involved in large projects.

It seems that Lee preferred to stay in eastern Pennsylvania while Sam
would travel several days a week into the New York City showroom, then
at 4 East 52nd Street. Sam wore several hats that included manager and
merchandiser, in addition to engineer.

Design-Technics produced ceramic dinnerware, bowls, vases, lamp
bases, ashtrays in almost every size and shape imaginable. Many pieces
appear to have been created as studio pieces, while others were clearly
mass-produced. One mass-produced dinnerware pattern, Sun Shadows was
created by Lee for H. E. Lauffer Company and was known as the Stone-Tec
Ware line.

Lois Lehner (Lehner's Encyclopedia of U.S. Marks) reports that many
important potters worked for Design-Technics, including Sam Haile, David
Weinrib, David Gil (Bennington Pottery), Rita Sargen-Simon, and Nancy
Wickham. (The fact is that many more famous designers worked at
Design-Technics). The company dates she provides (c. 1944-1953) are
clearly not exact. At the current time it is apparent that the company
continued on at least into the mid-latter 1960s and possible much
longer.

Appended information: I have received information from Walter Heath,
the last plant manager of Design-Technics, that the company did, in
fact, continue past the sixties. The company remained in business until
December 1993. The company, at this time, produced only lamps and tiles.
At some point much prior, the Rosens had sold the company to three
individuals who took over the company. The company continued until it
had a fire, more than a decade ago. The company suffered financial
difficulties after the fire and the firm was sold and moved to Pen
Argyl, Pennsylvania.

Design-Technics items (not the Lauffer items) are often marked with
the words Design-Technics, either as a mold-mark or in hand writing.
There is a great deal more to learn about this company and its product.
If you have any information regarding Design-Technics, please contact us
at Modish.net.

Sources: Interiors 1955, 1959; China, Glass, & Tablewares 1954;
Pennsylvania Department of State corporate records. Also, thanks to
Walter Heath and his wife, Bahereh Khodadoost.