Joseph Thompson working with students on a model stove, 1950. (2004.22.87). Photographer unknown.
By 1950 the Industrial Design program was well established. The 1950 Art Center catalog states that students, “must be trained to combine imaginative design with technical proficiency. He must understand form, know color and materials, be able to render and draft, must be able to meet and collaborate with architects and engineers on a basis of common knowledge and understanding.” In this project, students are working on a full-scale model of a stove. The instructor in the photograph is model specialist Joseph Thompson who appears in many of the early Product and Transportation Design photographs and worked on the Model A Ford.