Famous ceiling fan designers?

[kestrel]

For nostalgia's sake, I looked through some of the old catalogs posted on "I Heart Fans".

We know that Jean-Clyde Mason designed the Casablanca Venus, Spirit of Saturn, Cascade, and probably others. WSJ featured her 1937 MG SA a few months back. www.wsj.com/articles/a-vintage-mg-that-still-turns-heads-in-hollywoodinspired-by-the-movie-rebecca-a-los-angeles-designer-and-her-husband-bought-the-stylish-car-she-has-enjoyed-for-half-a-century-1519138801

Richard Holbrook designed the Stealth, California Zephyr, Bel Air, etc.

The designer from Brazil who works for Modern Fan and worked for Ventilador Spirit...can't remember his name.

Who are some others?

[Cole D]

Were you thinking of Ron Rezek on Modern Fan Co?

There was a guy on You Tube once that had commented somewhere that he and another guy designed the Fasco ceiling fans. It started with a drawing it on a napkin in Florida, if I remember right. Too bad I can't remember which video it was where the comment was posted. I can't recall their names, seems like he said they designed the Charleston and Worlds Fair and possibly others.

I've talked to a guy who is a Lasko designer and helped design some of the ceiling fans back in the day. He was looking for one of them, I forget which model exactly. But he helped design the Lasko Contemporary I know. Gary Beideman I think was his name.

[kestrel]

Jun 23, 2018 21:54:14 GMT -5 Cole D said:

Were you thinking of Ron Rezek on Modern Fan Co?

He's the founder and designed a lot of them, right? Turns out I was actually thinking of Guto Indio da Costa, who designed the IC/Air series (one of my favorite new ceiling fans).

Interesting tidbits about Fasco and Lasko!

[fancollector12]

Tom Frampton, who started out working for Burton A. Burton, ran the Casablanca Fan Company's Specialty Fan Division, and then branched out to create Fanimation in 1984. Some of his earliest designs, the Punkah and the Palisades, are still being manufactured today.

[Cole D]

Jun 23, 2018 22:55:20 GMT -5 kestrel said:

Jun 23, 2018 21:54:14 GMT -5 Cole D said:

Were you thinking of Ron Rezek on Modern Fan Co?

He's the founder and designed a lot of them, right? Turns out I was actually thinking of Guto Indio da Costa, who designed the IC/Air series (one of my favorite new ceiling fans).

Interesting tidbits about Fasco and Lasko!

I think so, I remember seeing some of those in a Sears catalog and he was noted as the designer.

[Cole D]

Jun 24, 2018 2:45:56 GMT -5 fancollector12 said:

Tom Frampton, who started out working for Burton A. Burton, ran the Casablanca Fan Company's Specialty Fan Division, and then branched out to create Fanimation in 1984. Some of his earliest designs, the Punkah and the Palisades, are still being manufactured today.

I did not know Fanimation had been around that long, I thought they came out in 1996 or something, that's interesting.

[Brian L.]

WHO SUMMONED ME?!


Lol anyways it is nice to see this forum still active while I have been gone for a while. Anyways, back onto the topic.


One of the most influential designers I would say is Richard Holbrook he basically redesigned the ceiling fan by concealing the housing hardware, as seen on the California Zephyr, he also made the unique blade badge system as seen on that fan as well, it was introduced in Casablanca's lineup in 1989. Afterwards in 1991, the Casablanca Stealth was introduced, a game-changing design in the ceiling fan industry, with contemporary lines and a sleek look, it was an instant success and is still seen in production today. He also designed some accessories and light kits.
Here is a website for his design firm: richardholbrook.com

(all of my lists are design patent based)

-Artisan
-Bel Air
-Califonia Zephyr
-Constellation
-Genesis
-Gemini
-Hermosa
-Marquis/Montclaire
-Monaco
-Palisades
-San Marino
-Silhouette
-Stealth

-Versa Touch control
-Comfort Touch control

-K4H
-KG1H

-Espada Lamp series
-Discus Lamp series




The next influential designer is Jean Clyde Mason a lot of her design as seen has art deco inspiration with a lot of round curves and sleek lines. She has also done a lot of other works away from fans as well, including the Paladin Pendant. Her introduction of the Saturn ceiling fan in 1986 had a great influence in the fan industry as it was one of the first fans to be designed with a contemporary look.

-Venus Gallery with light/Venus no light
-Halogen Star Lightkit
-Mercury/Meridien Housing Design
-Saturn
-Cascade

-Venus Lamp series
-Saturn ceiling lamp
-Saturn Lamp series

-Some unknown Ceiling lamp




One of the most underrated/unmentioned designers is Masao Tsuji
he played a major role in Hunter's 90s fan lineup, a LOT of his fans being featured every year. When Casablanca merged with Hunter, he still designed many fans, along for Casablanca and Hunter for a while. He passed away in 2014, here is an obituary about his life, a very interesting guy. www.legacy.com/obituaries/azcentral/obituary.aspx?n=masao-tsuji&pid=172714343&fhid=11255 A lot of his designs have a contemporary/traditional feel to them, and a lot of the ornate fans he made are absolute masterpieces.

-1896
-1912 Mission
-2nd Century "Original"
-Belle Meade Blade arm 
-Berkshire/Berkshire with Light
-Brunswick 1
-Cambridge Remote w/ Greenwich Arms
-Dimensions 
-Greenwich Blade Arm 
-Jamestown 
-Master Suite 
-Millenium
-Montaire
-Oak Park 
-Right at Home Motor housing 
-Savoy
-Seville
-Sojourn
-Southern Classic 
-Villa Collection
-Whisperwind 2000

Some designs at Casablanca:
-19th Century (With James C. Thomas)
-Bel Air Halo (Yes, the light attachment change was under his design)
-Bella
-Bungalow light
-Candelier
-Nouvelle 

Motor Designs: (I believe this was with a team of other designers at Hunter)
-Whisperwind skeletal desig
-XTR200 Skeletal Design

Some Controls:
-Sensi Touch control
-Sensi touch (Short) control
-Comfort Monitor control

Ventilation fans:
Montesino and Garden District Ventilation fans

Some Light kits:
-4 Light Wrought Iron
-Low profile light with Opal "Conical" Glass 
-Low profile light with frosted "Rosette" Glass 
-Low profile light with frosted "Sunburst" Glass 
-Three Tiered Clear Beveled Glass 
-Light kit 26140

And a lot of air purifiers that I do not know the model names of.



When it comes to old Casablanca and the fans we know and love from them, the famous and traditional Panama housing was designed by Warren E. Dennis
.He also designed the 80s Casablanca sockets on the K4S, K4, and K4Ls when Casablanca decided to move away from the Leviton sockets. The Century 9000 Ceiling fan was designed by him, and I believe the slumber quiet system was also his work.

Robert Sonneman
is a well-renowned lighting designer, he has his own firm in New York. At one point in time though, his firm was asked to design a ceiling fan from Homestead in 1987. This was the birth of the contemporary WIND I and WIND II ceiling fan system. These are very unique designs that came in very interesting packaging. Since the ceiling fans themselves were cylindrical, they came in Tubes, almost like a fan in a can.

When it comes to contemporary design and a unique system of putting one together, the Ball and Stratos fan comes to mind, by the Modern Fan Company. designed by Ron Rezek. He has an interesting line of fans as well as designs, all of them contemporary and dating back to the Beverly Hills Fan Company in the early 90s. Not exactly sure which fans he designed, but the most notable are: Ball, Stratos, Le Cirque, and Cirrus.

If you wonder who designed the Airflow/Casablanca Aero and Airflow ceiling fans, it was by John Caldwell
I do not know much about him, however, he has a design firm.
Webpage here: www.johncaldwelldesign.com/

For sail bladed Casablancas like the Avalon and Malibu Star, those designs are from Alexander B. Ignon.

Finally, pertaining to current day Casablanca and Hunter, a few designs in their line up are by James C. Thomas. I believe he currently works at Hudson Lighting(correct me if I am wrong), but fan-wise, he has designed the Casablanca Mission, Hunter Oceanus, and the Casablanca Moderne Table fan. He has a lot more fans he had designed, including a few accessories, such as Hunter fan remotes. He has a website here: jct.design


Hopefully, this list helps out with knowing who designed certain fans and whatnot. If you would like patent numbers to some fans, feel free to ask me.

[kestrel]

^ Sorry for the late reply (I've been busy with a bunch of exams these past few weeks), but AWESOME information! Thank you for taking the time to put that together!

[Max C.]

Jul 1, 2018 1:50:29 GMT -5 Brian L. said:

WHO SUMMONED ME?!

Probably every single member who misses you!

By the way, who else feels that Brian's information should become a sticky?

[Cole S.]

James Thomas is with Progress Lighting. He has been delving back into fans a bit as they expand their lines, I know he was involved with the Soar.

Interestingly, Sonneman's "Fan In A Can" is STILL talked about in the industry today, it came up in conversation when I was at Lightovation.

Hunter/Casablanca has had quite the repertoire of designers in recent times. Christophe Badarello, Patrick O'Connell, Claire McRoberts, Alex Haggar just to name a few. Some very talented people, even outside of fans.

[kestrel]

Any pictures of the Homestead WIND "fan in a can" packaging?

[Cole S.]

Here is my fan can. Unfortunately FedEx obliterated the fan inside, but I mostly wanted the packaging anyways.

[kestrel]

Thank you. Wow! The WIND's packaging is really neat! One of my best friends from elementary school had one in his house, complete with a HomeStar wall control - I could never figure out what the fan was called. I'm not sure I've ever seen another Homestead (other than the Star/Starlet that Casablanca kept building). How long did Casablanca make the WIND after they bought Homestead?

Edit: did the WIND ever come with HomeStar? Maybe it was another model? (Last time I saw that fan was 15+ years ago.)

Edit: I don't think it was a Homestead at all. I'm starting another thread about this childhood fan.

[Max C.]

By chance, does anybody know who designed fans for Kendal Lighting's lineup?  There have been some unique pieces from them over the years, many becoming quite iconic in Canada.  Banvil's brief experimentation with contemporary models in the early 90s would also be of interest.

[Brian L.]

Aug 3, 2018 14:22:56 GMT -5 Max C. said:

By chance, does anybody know who designed fans for Kendal Lighting's lineup?  There have been some unique pieces from them over the years, many becoming quite iconic in Canada.  Banvil's brief experimentation with contemporary models in the early 90s would also be of interest.

Not quite sure, but if you search on a design patents website I'm sure you can find some filed under Kendal Lighting.