Lewis W. Butler Foundation

02/20/2023

Charles Alfred Harrison was an industrial designer who gave hundreds of ordinary items new life. He was part of the golden age of industrial design, during which he pursued his mission of reinventing consumer products to be mass-produced, pleasing to the eye, and a source of improvement in the lives of their users.

Harrison was the first Black executive at Sears, Roebuck, & Company, where he later became Chief Product Designer and reimagined more than 750 products for Sears alone. However, his most famous contribution was probably his redesign of the View-Master, a stereoscopic toy that allowed the user to view photographs in 3D. In 1958, the photography company Sawyer’s put Harrison in charge of reinventing the View-Master to be used by children. Due to Harrison’s own dyslexia, he made the product so intuitive that it didn’t need instructions to be used. He continued to apply this principle of intuitive use to all products he developed during his career.

One of Harrison’s most familiar designs is the modern plastic trash cans, still ubiquitous today. He reinvented the galvanized steel trash cans, replacing the cylindrical steel with a rectangular, plastic design. He also added wheels, thus creating the foundational design for trash bins all around the country.

02/13/2023

Norma Merrick Sklarek graduated from Columbia in 1950 with a B.Arch. At Columbia, she was one of two women and the only African-American in her class. After graduation, she faced discrimination in her search for work, and was initially rejected by nineteen firms. She earned her architecture license in 1954, which made her the first licensed African-American woman architect in the state of New York. Despite the bad references she received from her first boss, she was given more responsibilities and larger-scale jobs at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. In 1959 she became the first African-American woman member of the American Institute of Architects.

Like many women architects in corporate firms, she served as a project manager rather than design architect for most of her career. She collaborated Cesar Pelli on projects including the Pacific Design Center and the San Bernardino City Hall. She believed that “architecture should be working on improving the environment of people in their homes, in their places of work, and their places of recreation. It should be functional and pleasant, not just in the image of the ego of the architect.”

02/06/2023

Paul Revere Williams, also known as the “architect to the stars,” developed an incredible portfolio of over 2500 buildings during his 50-year career. He broke several barriers in the field of architecture and has played a major role in carrying Southern California’s glamour style to the rest of the world. Williams was not only the first Black architect to become a member of the American Institute of Architects, but also the first Black member inducted into the Institute’s College of Fellows.
In the 1920s, Williams had to cope with the reality that White clients were not comfortable sitting beside him. He therefore developed a unique skill in rendering his drawings upside down so that his white clients could view his work from across the table rather.
One of Williams’ most famous designs is the space-aged Theme Building at the Los Angeles International Airport. In 2017 he was awarded The AIA Gold Medal, the AIA’s highest annual honor, which recognizes individuals whose work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture.

02/01/2023

🎉 Our application is now open for scholarships for the 2023-2024 school year! 🎉 We are looking for talented undergraduates who are studying design. You can read more about our criteria and apply for the scholarship on our website: https://www.lewiswbutlerfoundation.org/scholarship

Applications are due March 31!

01/22/2023

Are you thinking of starting your portfolio for college applications or internships? We asked LWBF Board Member, David Gonzalez, for tips on creating your portfolio. As the Assistant Chair of the Industrial Design Program at California College of the Arts, David shared his advice for High School Portfolio tips:

1) Focus on one main project to develop! Reviewers will want to see an example of your best work with enough depth that they can appreciate your concept, process, and ex*****on.
2) Take good pictures along the way as you create! Process photos show how your thinking evolved and show off your technical skills.
3) Highlight your special skills! Choose a project that plays to your strengths, whether you're a software whiz or a modeling maven. Incredible at 3-D modeling? Make sure to include your best images! If you're a woodworker, share close-ups of your joints. If you're a graphic designer with a talent for social media, share your Instagram and digital templates.

Make sure to share this post with a high school student in your life!

01/08/2023

01/06/2023

In December, our students, mentors and Board gathered for an end-of-year LWBF celebration! We got to chat together over yummy food and hear presentations from Federico Engel (Principal at Butler Armsden Architects) and David Gonzalez (Assistant Chair of Industrial Design at CCA).

It was our first time meeting our scholars, many of whom just finished their first semester of college. We wish our students and community a fruitful and fun year in 2023! ✨

12/09/2022

Thanks to your support, LWBF has committed over $200K to support our first nine scholars. As we near the end of the year, we will start recruiting our next cohort of talented students!

Donate today to ensure we can continue to support young designers and honor Lewis’s legacy. All donor dollars go directly to student scholarships!
Click to donate: https://www.lewiswbutlerfoundation.org/

12/04/2022

Design fields remain overwhelmingly white, yet great design requires diverse teams for careers to facilitate great economic advancement.

12/03/2022

Inga is in her second year of the Product Design program at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. On Running shoes are known for their engineered designs, Inga took on the challenge to take it one step further with a 3D-printed, data-driven midsole. Tackling all the terrains without sacrificing what’s most important: comfort and support.

11/29/2022

This we need your help to continue our mission to expand the horizons of the design world. In order to select and fund the next group of scholars, we are asking for your help today.

If you donate this week, your gift will be doubled through a matching donation—and as always, 100% of donations to LWBF go to student scholarships. We are a volunteer-run organization and we keep our costs low so that your donations can have the maximum impact.

Visit the link in our bio to donate and learn more about LWBF.

11/27/2022

Gabby acted on her early interest in pursuing architecture by enrolling in several programs, where she learned hands-on design and construction. Despite difficult life circumstances that required her to work 20 hours per week after school, Gabby has retained her drive to create and her love of innovative design, combined with a consideration of climate change and the pursuit of social justice.