Sebring Ohio Historical Society
126 North 15th Street
Sebring, Ohio 44672
330-938-6920  
Viktor Schreckengost (June 26, 1906 – January 26, 2008) was the father of industrial
design and creator of the Jazz Bowl, an example of Jazz Age art designed for Eleanor
Roosevelt during his association with Cowan Pottery. He is the creator of the largest
freestanding ceramic sculpture in the world, Early Settler, on permanent display at
Lakewood High School in Lakewood, Ohio. He also designed dinnerware. Eschewing
the fancy, flowery French designs that were popular in the United States during the Great
Depression, Schreckengost created simple modern designs that were popular throughout
the country. He designed bicycles manufactured by Murray bicycles for Murray and
Sears, Roebuck and Company (which took their total yearly sales from one million to
four hundred million dollars)as well as other fancy pedal toys. He designed the first cab
over engine with engineer Ray Spiller. This design is used in almost every city bus
today.
Schreckengost's peers included designers Raymond Loewy, Norman Bel Geddes,  Eva
Zeisel, and Russell Wright. Schreckengost, whose influence ranks with  theirs according
to scholars, had a quieter and more low-profile career in  Cleveland. His designs
included trucks, airplanes, bicycles, furniture, industrial equipment and dinnerware.
Schreckengost was one of six children. His father worked at a ceramics factory from
which he brought home material for his children to model. Every week he held a
sculpture contest among the children, the winner of which accompanied his father on his
weekend trip into the local big city of Alliance, Ohio. Only years later did
Schreckengost realize that his father systematically rotated the winner. Younger brothers
Donald and
Notable students include Giuseppe Delena, chief designer at Ford Motor Co.; Larry
Nagode, principal designer at Fisher-Price; Joe Oros, designer of the 1965 Ford
Mustang, and Jerry Hirschberg, designer of the Infiniti J30 and the 1971 boatail Buick
Riviera.  Schreckengost also enlisted in the Navy at age 37 to help the Allies in World
War II. He was flown on secret missions to Europe where he used his modeling
knowledge to help improve the radar used in the Battle of the Bulge. Later he helped
design prosthetics for wounded soldiers. He retired from the Naval Reserves as a
Captain. Schreckengost was also good friends with Cleveland's famed safety director
Eliot Ness.
Paul Schreckengost also went on to careers as ceramicists. Schreckengost graduated
from the Cleveland School of the Arts (now the Cleveland Institute of Art) in 1929 at
which time he earned a partial scholarship to study at the Kunstgewerbeschule in
Vienna. To make the trip, he borrowed $1,500 from two owners of Gem Clay, an
industrial ceramics manufacturer in Sebring. When he returned six months later,
Schreckengost paid back his loans—a fortuitous event for the men from Gem Clay since
separate bank failures during the Great Depression had otherwise wiped them out.
Schreckengost taught industrial design at the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) for more
than 50 years, and was a professor emeritus at CIA until his death. He was also the
youngest faculty member ever at CIA (then known as the Cleveland School of the Arts).
Schreckengost founded CIA's school of industrial design, the first of its kind in the
country.
In 2000, the Cleveland Museum of Art curated the first ever retrospective of
Schreckengost's work. Broad in scope, the exhibition included sculpture, pottery,
dinnerware, drawings, and paintings. The centerpiece of the exhibit was the Jazz
Bowl. The industrial design portion included many of his famous designs such as
safer and cleaner printing presses, economical pedal cars, cab-over-engine trucks,
banana-seat bicycles, electric fans, and lawn chairs. Then in his 90s,
Schreckengost made many personal appearances at the exhibit. In April of 1991,
Schreckengost travelled with Henry B. Adams, then curator of the CIA, to Norfolk,
Virginia to address the Hampton Roads chapter of the American Institute of
Architects -- at age 93.
Schreckengost lived in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and celebrated his 100th birthday
in June 2006. The Viktor Schreckengost Foundation planned more than 100
exhibits of his work, with at least one in each state, to celebrate the milestone. The
exhibits opened in March 100 days before his 100th birthday. Schreckengost
attended an exhibit in New York City to open the shows. The night before his
birthday he was honored at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights by a large and
appreciative crowd. Also in 2006, Schreckengost was awarded the National
Medal of Arts, the highest honor the federal government can bestow on an
American artist. He and the nine other winners were feted in an Oval Office
ceremony by President George W. Bush and the First Lady Laura Bush on
November 9, 2006.
Schreckengost died on January 26, 2008 at age 101 while visiting family in
Tallahassee, Florida.
See our Viktor Schreckengost Gallery