Donald A. Wallance
industrial designer (1909–1990)
Donald A. Wallance (1909–1990) was an American metalworker, furniture and industrial designer. His book, Shaping America's Products, is described as a "seminal study of the relationship of craftsmanship to industry," by the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.
Early life and education
Wallance was born in Queens, New York in 1909. He studied English literature at New York University, graduating with a B.A. in 1930. He travelled in Northern Europe where he was exposed to international style architecture and design. He returned to the United States and worked for his father, who owned a furniture store. His work there inspired his interest in designing retail furniture. He attended the Design Laboratory School in New York from 1936 until the school closed in 1940, where he studied Bauhaus design theory.
Career
For one year, starting in 1941, he worked as the technical and design director for the National Youth Administration in Louisiana. He designed mass-produced furniture for servicemen's families who lived abroad during World War II. He also served in the Army Air Corps.
The public source identifies “Donald A. Wallance” as industrial designer (1909–1990). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Donald, Wallance and industrial.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5293939. VIAF identifies the subject as 21843434. The Library of Congress control number is no2003115731. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1909, 1990, 1930 and 1936.
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This entry incorporates text from “Donald A. Wallance” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.