Arthur Jon Pulos,
FIDSA (1917-1997)
President of the Industrial Designers Society of America
(IDSA), 1973-1974
Industrial designer, educator and design historian Arthur Pulos was born in North Vandergrift, PA. He graduated in art education from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1939 and served in the Air Force during WW II. He earned a Masters in Silversmithing at the University of Oregon in 1943 and became chairman of the silversmithing department there. From 1946 to 1955 he was Associate Professor of Design at the University of Illinois. He came to Syracuse University in 1955 to direct the industrial design program, becoming chairman of the Department of Design in 1970 until his retirement in 1982.
A practicing industrial designer as well as a silversmith, Arthur founded Pulos Design Associates in 1958 and remained in active practice until 1988. He was a founding member in 1957 and the last president of Industrial Designers Education Association (IDEA) in 1964. In 1967, he was awarded Fellowship in IDSA. Pulos became president of IDSA from 1973 to 1974, presiding over the relocation of IDSA headquarters from New York City to McLean, VA. He also became president of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) from 1979 to 1981.
A scholarly writer, Arthur wrote Opportunities in Industrial Design, published by Vocational Guidance Manuals, NY in 1970, and then, his two-part masterpiece, American Design Ethic (1983) and American Design Adventure (1988), both unique narratives of the history of industrial design.