Peter Muller-Munk (1904–1967) was a brilliant silversmith, a pioneering industrial designer and educator, and a visionary spokesperson for his profession. Silver to Steel is the first retrospective of his four-decade career.

Browse biographical highlights, and access high resolution images in the galleries below.

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Biography

Silversmith

In 1926, at the age of 22, Peter Muller-Munk, a recent émigré from Germany, secured a position as a silversmith at Tiffany & Co. Within a year, he struck out on his own, producing sophisticated works of modern silver for the luxury market. Before his 26th birthday, his work had entered the collections of the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Newark Museum and had been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Notwithstanding his meteoric rise as a silversmith, Muller-Munk turned his attention to designing products for the mass market, including pottery and metalware for Macy’s, leather goods for Laura Lee Linder, Inc., and an innovative pitcher for Revere Copper and Brass. Ultimately, he found an outlet for his new interests through a new job: teaching the first generation of formally trained industrial designers.

 

Professor

In 1935, Muller-Munk accepted a position as assistant professor of industrial design at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh (now Carnegie Mellon University). Teaching connected him with the region’s extensive manufacturing base and introduced his students to production techniques and materials. His decade as an educator also opened new avenues for a design practice he launched in 1938. He left Carnegie Tech in 1945 to head his budding design consultancy: Peter Muller-Munk Associates (PMMA).

 

Designer

During the post-World War II economic boom, the firm’s talented team designed consumer-friendly, efficient and refined products, attracting major clients such as Westinghouse, Porter Cable, and Bell & Howell. The Westinghouse 1951 refrigerator, that could open with a free elbow, home movie cameras and projectors for Bell & Howell, and the collegiate “Varsity” electric shaver for Schick were among PMMA’s innovative products. As the do-it-yourself movement accelerated, home hobbyists could indulge in the easy to use, lightweight Porter-Cable power tools designed by PMMA.

At the same time, Muller-Munk assumed a leadership role internationally in the arenas of design and diplomacy. The United States government’s Cold War containment policy opened the door to technical assistance programs abroad. With government sponsorship in 1956, PMMA launched a product design office in Israel, and a year later, one for handicraft development in Turkey. Through these and other initiatives, Muller-Munk introduced modern American design and manufacturing methods to countries in need.

 

Visionary

“Our challenge is no longer one of production, of manufacturing, or of building but one of inventing, of scientific problem-solving, of research, and of creative conceptualization.”

Amid the cultural and economic upheavals of the 1960s, civic bodies and businesses alike found themselves addressing systems-wide challenges. Muller-Munk recalibrated the firm accordingly, and PMMA applied its problem-solving skills and aesthetic acumen to market research and development; corporate identity and wayfinding graphics; interiors, exhibitions, civic planning, and mass-transit. Visionary drawings and plans from the PMMA archives are presented compellingly in the exhibition. Among them is the reimagining of basic utilities—the electricity grid and water towers—as sculptural fixtures or communal centers in the urban environment.

After Peter Muller-Munk died in 1967, PMMA soldiered on, with creative solutions in transportation and graphic design. The firm’s longevity is a testament to its founder, who brought elegance and order to the daily rituals of life. In Muller-Munk’s view, good design was that basic, and that essential.