DESIGN DUET: the creative lives of Robert Black and Ormond Sanderso

In the early 1960s, while Research Triangle Park was turning central NC into a magnet for modern technology, Robert Black and Ormond Sanderson’s Strawvalley complex presented furniture, lighting, and design by such well known architect/designers as Mies van der Rohe, Harry Bertoia, Eero Saarinen, Marcel Breuer, and Le Corbusier. Black and Sanderson were not only among the first to introduce modern design to southern consumers, but also major artists in their own right. Design Duet includes striking collage-paintings and award-winning stonewares by Black, alongside the etched and glazed enamels that led the organizers of the 1964 New York World’s Fair to choose Sanderson to represent the best of American art in its United States Pavilion. Pieces by other major designers round out the exhibition.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website