Honorary Members

IDSA Honorary Members

Honorary IDSA Membership is awarded by a three-quarters majority vote of the Board of Directors to any person whose relationship to, involvement with, or special efforts on behalf of the design profession merit the recognition and gratitude of the Society.

1965 Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. (1910-1989)
At IDSA's first annual conference, Mr. Kaufmann, Jr. received the IDSA Award for Distinguished Service to Design (see IDSA Special Awards). In 1970, IDSA decided to extend this award to include Honorary Membership in IDSA.

1966 R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983)
At IDSA's second annual conference, Mr. Fuller received the IDSA Award of Achievement (see IDSA Special Awards). In 1970, IDSA decided to extend this award to include Honorary Membership in IDSA.

1981 Ray Kaiser Eames (1916-1988)
At IDSA's annual conference in Los Angeles, California, Ray Eames was awarded Honorary Membership by IDSA for her design innovation and leadership to the design profession as a design partner with her husband, Charles Eames, who died in 1978. She trained as a painter with Hans Hofmann (1880-1960) in the 1930's, had her work shown in 1936, and was a founding member of the American Abstract Artists. She studied at Cranbrook Academy from 1940 to 1941, where she met and married Charles Eames and practiced with him as a graphic designer. Between 1942-1944, she designed more than half the covers for the new magazine California Arts and Architecture. Most importantly, she shared credit with her husband for many of his famous designs.

1982 Florence Knoll Bassett (b. 1917)
At IDSA's annual conference in Orlando, Florida, Mrs. Bassett was awarded Honorary Membership in recognition of four decades of support for, and contribution to, design. As co-founder of Knoll Associates in 1946, she established a company that, along with Herman Miller, pioneered contemporary American furniture design in the ensuing decades. She was trained in architecture and design at Cranbrook Academy, the Architectural Association in London and at the Amour Institute in Chicago with Mies van der Rohe. She commissioned many of her earlier school associates (including Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Isamu Noguchi and Don Albinson) and put into production the classic Bauhaus designs of Mies and Marcel Breuer. In doing so, she revolutionized the office, unifying space planning, furniture, office equipment, color and fabrics. The result was a new aesthetic for furniture in contemporary spaces. In 1945 she had founded the Knoll Planning Unit and in 1947 Knoll Textiles. When her husband, Hans Knoll died in 1955, she continued with the company until her retirement in 1965.

1983 Ralph Caplan
At its annual conference in Chicago, IDSA awarded Honorary Membership to Mr. Caplan, design writer, critic and humorous commentator. He became associate editor of Industrial Design Magazine in 1957. After leaving the magazine in about 1963, he wrote for Charles and Ray Eames, The Design of Herman Miller (1976), and, Connections (1977), a monograph on their work. He co-authored The Design Necessity, Chair (1973), and Design Matters (1970). In 1982, his book, By Design, was published by St. Martin's Press and received warmly by the design community for its wit, humor and insights into the design process. Mr. Caplan received a Masters degree in creative writing from the University of Indiana after writing poetry, then taught at Indiana University, Penn State, and Wabash College in Indiana. He then went to New York to write for a humor magazine, Bounty, before taking a position with ID magazine. Ralph is an Emeritus Board Member of the International Design Conference in Aspen, and has served as program director for their conferences.

1988 Brian J. Wynne
At its annual conference in New York, WORLDESIGN88, IDSA awarded Honorary Membership to Mr. Wynne for leadership and vision in building the profession of industrial design and its Society. Wynne became IDSA's Executive Director in 1977. He helped to triple membership, create a network of 23 Chapters, increase income seven-fold and take IDSA from bankruptcy to ownership of its own headquarters and prototype design center. He contributed journals, publications, studies, exhibits, awards, scholarships, accreditation, public relations and international programs that created a new level of prestige for US design and its contribution to business success. After leaving IDSA in 1988, Wynne continued his work as a writer, speaker and seminar leader on issues related to organizational development, global competition and design.

1998 Bruce Nussbaum
At the IDEA ceremony at its annual conference in San Diego, IDSA awarded Honorary Membership to Mr. Nussbaum for his role in BusinessWeek's sponsorship of the Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA). In presenting the award IDSA President Vogel cited BusinessWeek's commitment to helping business make better use of design has done much to improve the climate in which we work. Nussbaum began the series with a smart design cover story in 1988, and for the last ten years BusinessWeek has annually featured the IDEA award winners, with detailed credits, philosophies and descriptions with outstanding illustrations.

2004 Vicki Matranga
At the IDEA ceremony at its annual conference in Pasadena, IDSA awarded honorary membership to Vicki Matranga, design program coordinator of the International Housewares Association (IHA) for her primary role over the last 12 years in the conception and organization of the Design Oasis exhibit at the annual National Hosewares Show and in the inception and annual organization of the IHA student housewares design competition.

2011 Gaylon White
At the 2011 International Conference in New Orleans, IDSA awarded a honorary membership to Gaylon White of Eastman Chemical. Gaylon also received the Personal Recognition Award in 2010. Gaylon is honored for his unwaivering support of industrial design education and collaboration with IDSA.