Paul Schremmer LFDIA
Paul Schremmer took his inspiration from the pre and post war design pioneers of the US and Europe and became an inspiration and example to a generation of Australian designers in the 70s and 80s.
Born December 31st 1929 Paul was educated at St Patrick’s College, Strathfield in New South Wales. With a keen teenage interest in the evolving form of cars and planes he aspired to work in one of these industries. Following graduation in 1946 he took the advice of the chief engineer at De Havilland that he should study engineering, and took up a cadetship to train as an engineer with consultant H.A. Rooke, Sydney.
His increasing interest in the work of international industrial designers and some sound vocational advice directed him to the consumer goods manufacturer Email. In 1948 he transferred his cadetship to Email and started a relationship with the organisation that spanned twenty years.
He completed his cadetship and received a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the East Sydney Technical College in 1951. He subsequently studied Theory of Colour & Design under noted design educationalist Phylis Shillito at the East Sydney Technical College, attending night school classes for two years while working for Email’s Advanced Product Development Department during the day.
In 1954, at the age of 24, he travelled by sea to England where he studied with the London School of Arts and Crafts for one year. He secured a position with the design department of Ford, England, and for eighteen months had the pleasure of realising one of his teenage dreams detailing car components. Another dream was realised when he sailed on the Queen Elizabeth to New York and found employment with Avro Aircraft in Toronto, Canada.
Paul returned to Australia in 1956 and rejoined Email where he was asked to set up an industrial design department, one of the earliest examples of a formal work group of this nature in Australia. Email was part of the Westinghouse group and he was sent to several Westinghouse design centres in the US to gain further experience. His tenure at email culminated with Paul being appointed Product Planning and Design Manager Email Ltd. (Consumer Products Division), a position that he held from 1961 to 1967.
At the time of his return to Australia professional designers were actively organising on behalf of the professional sector and energetically promoting the commercial benefit of design to industry and government. Paul became an active participant in this promotion of design.
The professional designers organisation founded in Melbourne in 1947, the Society of Designers for Industry (SDI), established a Sydney chapter in 1955. The SDI then formed an incorporated body in 1958, the Industrial Design Institute of Australia (IDIA), at the same time amalgamating with the Melbourne based Interior Designers Association of Australia (IDAA). This broadening of membership away from manufacturing interests in part prompted a new organisation in Sydney, the Society of Industrial Designers Australia (SIDA, founded in 1958). Paul Schremmer along with several other notable Sydney designers was a founding member of this group and served as one of its presidents. In November 1966 SIDA merged with the New South Wales chapter of the IDIA.
In 1958 the combined lobbying from professional design groups resulted in the Federal Government forming the Industrial Design Council of Australia (IDCA) to promote the role of industrial design to industry. Paul became an active participant in these promotions. In the early 60s the IDCA commissioned him to give a series of lectures called ’Design for Mass Production’ to be delivered in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. His extensive corporate experience in Email and internationally ably equipped him for this role.
Some content from these presentations was published later by the IDCA in its magazine, Design Australia and reprinted in Michael Bogle’s collection of design essays, Designing Australia. (Paul Schremmer, ’Product Planning and Design’, Design Australia (1967-75 Industrial Design Council of Australia), 4/1968, pp 39-44 (Reprinted as a booklet, 1968.) Included in Designing Australia - Readings in the History of Design. Edited by Michael Bogle, Pluto Press 2002. Included in Curve, Issue One, 2002 as a brief interview and pictorial essay.)
On leaving Email Paul commenced private practice. He consulted for the next 31 years, from 1967 to February 1998, initially as Paul Schremmer and Associates and in the later years with a partner, Andrew Crick, as Schremmer Crick Industrial Design. Paul’s client list included Rheem, Bonaire, GEC, Sunbeam, Crane, Victa, B&D, 3M, Union Carbide, Primus, Zip, Ring-Grip, Rank Arena and many others. He has been the recipient of over twenty Australian Design Awards and twelve Good Design Labels. Most Australians will have mowed a lawn, sat in front of an airconditioner, had a shower, cooked a meal, or made a phone call, or even brushed their teeth with a product that Paul designed.
His work has been published throughout his career in Australia’s various design magazines and in newspapers, and shown at trade fairs and international design meetings. He has been a frequent speaker on design to the community and to tertiary education, including a paper given at the international design symposium, Sydney Design ’99.
In 1970 he was one of the first six designers given Fellow status in the Industrial Design Institute of Australia (IDIA, now the Design Institute of Australia). In April 2002 he was awarded Life Fellowship of the DIA in recognition of services to the design industry and in particular as a leading industrial and product designer for over 40 years, and as a past president of the Society of Industrial Designers Australia. Paul Schremmer was inducted into the Design Institute of Australia Design Hall Of Fame in 2011 for a lifetime’s exceptional service to the design professions.
By observing and responding to post-war developments in industrial design, gaining international expertise, and championing the value of industrial design Paul Schremmer provided a valuable service to Australian industry and the development of professional design in Australia.
