Viktor Schreckengost, born on June 26, 1906 in Sebring, Ohio was a well-known industrial designer. One of six children and the son of a commercial potter, Schreckengost then learned the craft of sculpting clay. Schreckengost enrolled at the Cleveland School of Art (now the Cleveland Institute of Art) in the mid-1920's to study cartoon making, but shortly after seeing an exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art he changed his focus to ceramics. After his graduation in 1929, he studied ceramics in Vienna, Austria, which is where his reputation began to build. A short while after, he became the youngest faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Art, being only 25 years of age. In 1931, Schreckengost won his first of several awards of excellence in ceramics at CIA and his pieces of art were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Panama-Pacific Exposition, and The Art Institute of Chicago. During the mid-1930's, Schreckengost started to follow his interest for industrial design. He created the first modern mass-produced dinnerware, called Americana for American Limoges. He also designed, along with Ray Spiller, the first cab-over-engine truck for Cleveland's White Motor Company. During the late-1930's, Schreckengost became the chief bicycle designer for Murray-Ohio, in 1939 he released his first design, the Mercury Bicycle. The 1939 Mercury Bicycle was displayed along with a few other sculptures at the New York World's Fair. WWII interrupted his ceramic and design work when Schreckengost joined the United States Navy. His extraordinary talents were soon found, and he was then recruited to develop a system for radar recognition that in turn won him the Secretary of the Navy's Commendation Award. After the war ended, Schreckengost went back to his industrial design career creating new products for Sears, General Electric, Murray, Harris Printing, Salem China Company, and many others. In 1972, Viktor Schreckengost retired from industrial design, but continued teaching at CIA. Throughout his 70 years of teaching, all of his students have agreed that his classes were not only intriguing, but that he also made the perfect role model. Throughout the years, Schreckengosts' students have produced billions of dollars of successful products for our American industry. Viktor Schreckengost lived an extraordinary life showing others his passion for design and teaching others how to do the same. Schreckengost passed away on January 26, 2008 at the age of 101, while visiting his family in Tallahassee, Florida.
From the guide to the Viktor Schreckengost Collection, 1906-2008, (Cleveland State University)
