Paul McCobb

Paul Winthrop McCobb (June 5, 1917 – March 10, 1969) was an American modern furniture designer, textile designer, painter, and industrial designer.

Early life and education Paul Winthrop McCobb was born on June 5, 1917, in Medford, Massachusetts, to parents Winifred Leontine (née Caulfield) and Raymond Winthrop McCobb. His mother was employed as a stenographer. He did not complete his course there, and enlisted in the United States Army as a Private on December 5, 1942. While enlisted in the Army, he was in the Camouflage Corps of the Army Corps of Engineers and worked as an instructor of painted scenery.

Life and career McCobb came to prominence as a design and decorating consultant for Martin Feinman's Modernage Furniture in New York City in 1948. While working at Modernage Furniture, McCobb met B.G. Mesberg. Mesberg and McCobb would later be business partners in the Planner and Directional furniture lines. The Planner series has become an emblem of 1950s American furniture.

In 1955, he was married to Mary "Mollie" Frances Rogers, an interior designer. He taught at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art.

While he became best known for his furniture designs, McCobb also designed radios and televisions for CBS-Columbia and hi-fi consoles for Bell & Howell, along with other household items. Form Portfolios is a Danish-American company that works with furniture manufacturers to bring back midcentury modern furniture designs. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, Cleveland Museum of Art, and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

In 2021, the Johnson County Museum in Overland Park, Kansas, has held a posthumous exhibition, Paul McCobb: American Designer. This exhibit came from the collection of Samuel Hildreth.

Awards 1950, 1951, 1953, 1958 – Good Design Award, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, New York 1953 – Industrial Product Award, Hardwood Institute 1959 – Contributions to Better Design Award, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania