Peter Jon Pearce

Peter Jon Pearce
Born (1936-10-08) October 8, 1936 (age 88)
Geneva, New York, United States
Occupation(s)American product designer, author, and inventor.

Peter Jon Pearce (October 8, 1936)[1] is an American product designer, author, and inventor.

He is the designer of the Cachet Chair, Manufactured by Steelcase,[2] as well as the designer of the Curved Space Diamond Structure, a playground climbing sculpture, installed at playgrounds throughout the U.S., The Brooklyn Children's Museum, and the Hakone Open Air Museum in Japan, where it has been a popular attraction since 1978.[3] He earned his degree in product design from IIT Institute of Design.

Pearce was offered a job with Charles Eames after Eames saw the bent-plywood lounge chair he made in college.[1] While employed by Eames he contributed to the following projects:

-Made adaptations to the design of the furniture bases for the "Aluminum Group Furniture".

-Member of the Eames design and production crew for the film "Glimpses of the U.S.A."

-One of four team members who produced the prototypes of the "Time-Life Chair and Stool", designed for the Time & Life Building lobbies.

-Staff member involved in the development of the 1961 "La Fonda Chair", made for the La Fonda del Sol restaurant which opened in New York's Time & Life Building, in 1961.

-Staff member involved in the development of the "Eames Contract Storage" units.

-One of four team members who produced the prototype of the "Eames Tandem Sling Seating", initially installed at O'Hare and Dulles airports.

-Staff member involved in the development of the 3473 Sofa.[4]

He was an assistant to Buckminster Fuller[5][6] and is the author of several books including "Structure in Nature Is a Strategy for Design".[7] His focus on high-performance design, and on achieving sustainability in his designs, is seen in the methodologies used in the design of the Cachet Chair,[8] his work on Biosphere 2, and in the design of the Pearce Ecohouse. The Pearce Ecohouse design, emulates the hexagonal structures of nature and is a green structure built from glass and steel using prefab construction. It is solar powered and will use net-zero energy.[9]

Publications

  • Pearce, Peter, and Susan Pearce. Experiments in Form: A Foundation Course in Three-Dimensional Design. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co, 1980. ISBN 9780442264970
  • Pearce, Peter, and Susan Pearce. Polyhedra Primer. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1978. ISBN 0-442-26496-8
  • Pearce, Peter. Structure in Nature Is a Strategy for Design. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1978. ISBN 9780262160643

Patents

  • Peter J Pearce Patents[10]

Exhibitions

References

  1. ^ a b Neuhart, Marilyn Neuhart, with John (2010). The story of Eames Furniture. Berlin: Gestalten. pp. 200–207. ISBN 9783899552300.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ "Peter Jon Pearce".
  3. ^ Amber Dohrenwend. "Peter Pearce's "Curved Space Diamond Structure"".
  4. ^ Eames, John Neuhart, Marilyn Neuhart, Ray (1989). Eames design : the work of the Office of Charles and Ray Eames (3. printing ed.). New York: H.N. Abrams. pp. 227, 241, 249, 253, 265, 275, 283. ISBN 9780810908796.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Shiela Gibson Stoodley (September 2008). "Objects of Desire: Molecular Level". Art & Antiques Magazine: 30–31.
  6. ^ John Allen, FLS. "Buckminster Fuller's Synergetic Algorithm and Challenges of the Twenty-First Century".
  7. ^ Pearce, Peter (1990). Structure in nature is a strategy for design (5th print. ed.). Cambridge u.a.: MIT Press. ISBN 0262660458.
  8. ^ Cullen, Cheryl Dangel; Haller, Lynn (2004). Design secrets. 50 real-life projects uncovered : projects chosen by the Industrial Design Society of America. Gloucester, MA: Rockport Publishers. ISBN 978-1592530717.
  9. ^ Roberta Cruger. "Dwell on Design Conference: Dispatch from Day One".
  10. ^ "Peter J. Pearce Patents".
  11. ^ "Getty's Pacific Standard Time Series on L.A. Architecture: A Preview". Archived from the original on December 11, 2013. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  12. ^ Katya Tylevich. "Everything Loose Will Land".