Can a man who designs cars and airplanes also make jewelry? Today, perhaps not. Such a man was Geddes, who worked in the first half of the 20th century. Born April 27, 1893, in Adrian, Michigan, Norman Melancthon Geddes became a design legend, called the “Pioneer of American Industrial Design” and a man who designed everything. In Geddes’ own words, he was a man who designed his life. He briefly attended the Cleveland School of Art, but dropped out at age 16. Geddes first married Helen Belle Schneider in 1916, and they combined their names to become Bel Geddes. From that time on, he worked with her as a creative duo, designing nearly 200 stage productions from 1916 to 1937. In 1927, they opened an industrial design studio, designing commercial products.
At the age of 56, he and his wife Helen Belle Schneider began designing costume jewelry. Launched in the summer of 1950, the “flow-motion” jewelry, based on architectural and floral motifs, was groundbreaking. Notably, in 1941, he created two jelly brooch designs for Trifari. These pieces, produced in very limited editions, are quite rare.
Norman Bel Geddes died in New York City on May 8, 1958. His autobiography, “The Miracle of the Evening,” was published posthumously in 1960.
