Arens, Egmont, 1889-1966

Egmont Hegel Arens, industrial designer, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on 15 December 1889, the son of Franz Xavier and Emma (Huegal?) Arens. He was a leading design pioneer in the fields of packaging and plastics and is credited with introducing "appetite appeal" in packaging design. From 1911 to 1914 he attended the University of New Mexico and in 1915-1916 the University of Chicago. Before beginning his career in design, he was a sports editor for the Albuquerque (N.M.) Tribune-Citizen, a bookseller in his own Washington Square Bookstore in New York's Greenwich Village (1917-1923), a salesman of fine printing produced by his own Flying Stag Press (1918-1927), and editor for the periodicals Vanity Fair (1922-1923) and Creative Arts (1925-1927), and the printer, publisher, and editor (1919-1925) of the artistic and literary periodical Playboy, which published works by D.D. Lawrence and Max Weber, among others.

In 1929 he entered the field of industrial design as the founder and director of the division of industrial styling at Calkins and Holden, and in 1935 he established his own New York design office. As an industrial designer his activities included product design, plastics research, product development, color consultation, office and industrial interior design, store planning, and package and trademark design. He designed business machines, electrical appliances, radios, furniture, toys, and boats for such diverse clients as Reynolds Metals, Philip Morris, A & P, and the Columbian Rope Company.

Egmont Arens was manager (1917-1920) and director (1920) of the Peoples Symphony Concerts in New York, which had been founded by his father. Besides serving as president (1929) of the American Union of Decorative Artists and Craftsmen, he was a member (1946) of the planning committee for the Center for Graphic Industries of New York University, president (1949-1950) of the Society of Industrial Designers, a member (1952) of the advisory committee of Pratt Institute, and a member of the United States delegation to the International Trade Fair, held in Liege, Belgium, in 1955. He was the co-author with Roy Sheldon of the 1935 book Consumer Engineering . From 1962 until his death he held the position of chairman of the board of Egmont Arens - DeRaffel, Inc. in New York. Egmont Arens died in New York City on 2 October 1966.

From the guide to the Egmont Arens Papers, 1883-1966, 1880-1966, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)