Eliot Noyes Design Story
Today we went up to Grace Farms in New Canaan, CT, to see a special screening of the film Modernism, Inc. presented by the Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF).
Modernism, Inc. is mainly about Eliot Noyes the architect and industrial designer who, among many things started the first design program at IBM.
I won't tell you much, so you see it yourself when it is released in theaters later this year.
But please keep reading because there was a panel discussion afterwards with the people behind the film, and one of Noyes's children (who is now an old man) that I want to tell you about.
A few of my initial reactions here, while they are fresh …
The film's subtitle The Eliot Noyes Design Story fits well because this story is not so much about his architecture as it is about his design work - including pioneering unifying design programs for corporations before there were names for it like corporate branding and brand identity.
Noyes believed that a consistent look, feel and experience across all touchpoints - employee, customer, product user - would separate and differentiate modern corporations from their predecessors. It wasn’t about separating from competitors as much as it was about coming together themselves.
And he had a test case early in his career with IBM, when its leadership transferred from Thomas J. Watson Sr, to Thomas J. Whatson, Jr. The new CEO wanted something coherent and modern. And Noyes got his first big break.
It worked - Noyes’s IBM brand system led to a belief that "good design is good business" within IBM - and led to more assignments from Mobil, Westinghouse and others.
Noyes was widely successful in this new space until he crashed into the anti-consumerist youth culture emerging from the west coast one fateful summer at the Aspen Design Festival, for which he served as a director.
The film captures this collision, which ultimately led to Noyes resignation from the directorship at ADF to refocus on his small but influential architecture and industrial design firm.
In the final, post-commercial, chapter of his life Noyes appears contented. Spending summer vacations at his family retreat on Martha's Vinyard. Designing vacation homes and furniture for his friends. Taking up old pastimes including flying gliders and playing the oboe.
Noyes died of a heart attack in 1977 at his home in New Canaan, CT.
What was special about this special screening put on by the ADFF?
First, the fantastic setting at Grace Farms. It was a privilege to see it in Noyes's hometown. In a building that continues a tradition that he played a big role in starting.
Now, as to the panel discussion. This was such an engaging way to unpack the stories within the story.
Filmmaker Jason Cohn talked about his motivation for making movies about architecture and design, which is to help people see these as pathways to lead better and happier lives.
Eliot Noyes's son Frederick talked about his amazement at the continued interest in his father's work fifty years after his death. And his good will to the people in front and behind the camera. Especially his father's biographer Bruce Gordon whom he said he sometimes calls to ask questions about his dad. That got a laugh from the audience.
IBM corporate archivist Jamie Martin talked about the role of film at IBM. She said the company adopted it very early on, at first for instructional communication. Noyes's short films about design and business were seen as important messages, and the films gave them a consistent voice that could reach across the company quickly. She explained how the films were produced, copied onto reels, made available to employees, checked out, viewed by teams. And how valuable those behaviors back then are for researchers today.
Lastly, film festival organizer Kyle Bergman and Grace Farms architecture advisor Toshihiro Oki promised more screenings, including a mini-festival at Grace Farms next fall on the theme of architecture and humanity. This theme aligns with GF's mission and would be curated specifically for the location.
Afterwards, as the theater cleared out, I had a short conversation with Jamie Martin about her work at the IBM archive in Poughkeepsie, NY. Of course I asked about advertisements. Yes, they do archive them.
I wish I'd mentioned that I had a "Let's Create" tearsheet (watson x AI governance, ran in the NYT and WSJ this week) in my bag. But if I had, she might have asked me to give it to her!
Two thumbs up for Modernism, Inc. Can’t wait for what’s next from Cohn, the ADFF and Grace Farms.
