Cooper Hewitt says...
Born in Germany, Walter von Nessen pioneered the field of modern residential lighting and was among the first wave of influential immigrant industrial designers who interpreted European modernism for an American audience in the early 1920s. Before World War I, Walter von Nessen studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Berlin when Bruno Paul was the director. One of his early projects included contributing to the design of some of the interiors of the Berlin subway system. He also taught at the Charlottenburg Art School. During World War I, von Nessen left Germany and worked in Lund, Sweden with the cathedral architect Theodore Wåhlin, whose daughter and architect apprentice, Greta, he would later marry. Following the war, he designed furniture in Stockholm from 1919 to 1923. The couple immigrated to the United States in 1923 and during his first years in New York City von Nessen designed furniture for apartment living. They opened the design firm Nessen Studios in 1927 at 151 East 38th Street. In 1930, despite the economic depression, the company expanded production to more easily distribute their products to retailers. Nessen Studios offered a range of wares that included furniture, small household goods, and lighting, for which the firm is best known. With a background in the German arts and crafts movement, von Nessen aimed at practicality and strong craftsmanship in his designs for everyday objects, favoring industrial materials such as Bakelite, spun aluminum, and brass and chrome finishes. He quickly created a name for himself, attracting the attention of leading architects who fitted out interiors with his sleek indirect lighting. Eliel Saarinen, for example, used von Nessen's lamps for the dining hall at the Kingswood School for Girls at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Von Nessen also designed mass-market wares for the Chase Copper and Brass Company in the 1930s. The designer's significant exhibition participation includes "Modern American Design in Metal" at the Newark Museum (1929); "AUDAC Exhibition" at the Brooklyn Museum (1931); "Contemporary Industrial Art" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1935); and the Paris Exposition (1937) where he won a bronze medal.
