Zephyr Clock

Kem Weber was a pioneer of modern design in 1920s California, and has been credited for bringing a new machine-age style to the country, particularly in interior design. In his birthplace of Berlin, Weber trained as a cabinetmaker then studied architecture and interior design at the Academy of Applied Arts, where new ideas about modern design were percolating. In 1914, he traveled to San Francisco to oversee the German Pavilion at the international exposition and, due to the outbreak of war overseas, remained in the US, settling in Southern California. In 1925–26, he visited Paris’s influential Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, which cemented his interest in a new modern style. He returned to Los Angeles and opened an industrial design studio in 1927, where he promulgated the Art Moderne style, inspired by ocean liners, automobiles, skyscrapers, and other facets of modernity. In 1934, Weber designed a series of clocks for Lawson using the smooth surfaces and rounded corners of the popular streamlining style, an American variant of Art Moderne. The form’s sleek look and horizontal lines embraced the new, decidedly modern digital clock face while the name, Zephyr, references the Greek god of winds and movement.

Zephyr Clock; Co-Designer: Ferher (American); USA; brass, copper, bakelite, metal works; h: 9.2 x w :20.6 x d: 8.3 cm (3 5/8 x 8 1/8 x 3 1/4 in.); Museum purchase from the Decorative Arts Association Acquisition Fund; 1994-73-3