Radio design in the 30's and forties reflected a look that had a grace and style we now call art deco. Unfortunately, the beauty embodied in models by Fada, Zenith, Emerson, Stewart Warner, DeWald and others quickly dissappeared in the "modern fifties."
The two ray traced radios on this page are inspired and modeled after designs by the Fada Radio & Electric Co, located in Long Island City, NY. Their Bullet radios, sold in a number of design and color variations, were introduced in 1940 and continued to be sold through 1946. They produced many other models as well. The "Bullets" sold for $19.95 and can be had today in prices ranging from $500 to $3000. That is why I modeled my own.
The radio in the scene with the clock reminds us that in those days clocks and radios weren't combined into a single unit. In fact, the advent of the clock radio roughly parallels the demise of elegant radio design. Perhaps the clock radio signifys the beginning of our faster lifestyle and lack of taking [making] time to "smell the roses" or appreciate workmanship and design.
The examples on this page were done in Imagine, using their forms editor, a modelling tool that basically starts out with a moldable sphere. It was the tool of choice for maintaining a seamless surface that embodies both straight and curved (smoothed) edges.
Last Updated 9/20/04