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by Peter Flick
In 1977, Bill Stumpf, a Winona native, artist and industrial designer, collaborated with Julia Child. Child started the food show phenomena as the French Chef. In her famous Cambridge, Massachusetts, kitchen, Stumpf and Child collaborated on a groundbreaking study of kitchen ergonomics. Her kitchen was impeccably designed by Child and her husband, Paul, who managed the construction of every detail in a small three-room space. Stumpf and his team observed Child as she cooked, as she moved about the kitchen, and when and how she used the plethora of equipment hung on pegboard throughout the kitchen. They studied the effectiveness of the layout of the kitchen, and the cooking appliances and tools were examined and appraised. Stumpf was invited to stay in their home during the duration of the study. As it progressed, Stumpf embedded himself in the kitchen along with his design team until they completed the extensive study. The results of the study were published by the Walker Art Center in the periodical Design Quarterly — “Julia’s Kitchen, A Design Anatomy.” (No. 104, 1977) The entire issue was devoted to their study. Child’s actual kitchen, the one Stumpf and his team studied, is now on display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.
One of Winona’s best known citizens, Stumpf has became an icon of American design. His pursuit of pragmatic design, always fighting to mitigate what he termed the “loss of civility in the built environment,” his drive to find sustainable and recyclable materials became the major themes of his design work. These themes are now standard considerations for kitchen design, office furniture design, industrial design, product development and production. The preeminent international office furniture company, Herman Miller, had taken notice of Stumpf’s design beliefs and creative skills. They asked him and his creative team to help their company develop desk and task seating which would reduce fatigue and increase personal comfort in office and workplace. From this partnership, and Stumpf’s collaboration with other designers, including Don Chadwick and Jeff Weber, the company and the design firm created some of the most enduring and successful products in the history of commercial production. The 1976 Ergon chair produced for Herman Miller, Inc. was the first chair based on research revealing how the body moves. What Stumpf and associates were doing, studying and designing for safe and supported human movement, is called the science of ergonomics today. Stumpf and his collaborators were clearly on the forefront applying these concepts to furniture design.
The Equa and Aeron chairs, also developed by Stumpf and his team, have been placed in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The 1984 Equa chair was named by Time Magazine in 1990 as “Design: Best of the Decade.” The Aeron chair, introduced in 1996, continues to be produced with its distinctive breathable fabric, ergonomic functions, and ecological/recyclable components. The Herman Miller Aeron chair continues to be a successful and desirable product. Another Stumpf design, the revolutionary Embody chair, was introduced posthumously in 2009. Bill Stumpf died in 2006.
Stumpf moved to Winona with his family in 1950 after the death of his father in St. Louis. He grew up near Madison School and in this Winona neighborhood he began a lifelong friendship with classmate O.J. Fawcett. As a student at Winona Senior High School in the 1950s, Stumpf designed the original “Herkie” school mascot. WSHS art teacher Ed Korpela mentored the young artist and encouraged him to pursue a career in the arts. Stumpf designed sets for school plays, remembered Buffalo City sculptor and classmate Richard Brown, who praised his designs. Working in the graphics department at Watkins Medical Company with Tubby Beynon served as apprenticeship, of sorts, for Stumpf.
In her tribute in The Winona Post upon his death, Fran Edstrom tells this charming story. Stumpf, who was in high school at the time, “Set his sights on a pretty carhop, Sharon Ford, who worked at the A & W root beer stand in Winona. Always the creative thinker, He asked her if she noticed the last time she waited on him if he might have inadvertently given her his ‘lucky dime?”’ The query got him a date with Sharon. They married and the marriage lasted 52 years.
Stumpf attended the University of Chicago, which upon completion of his program, he attended the University of Illinois. There he received accolades for his industrial designs. He earned a fellowship and a teaching position at the University of Wisconsin, where his work caught the attention of Herman Miller, Inc. Moving back to Winona in 1972, Stumpf created his design firm. The firm’s office was located on Winona County 17 in a converted barn. The design firm used the milking and livestock area of the barn for offices. The upper loft of the barn was converted for the family’s home. Many Winonans remember attending cooking classes held in the Stumpf’s barn kitchen, taught by Sharon Stumpf. The converted barn home is still identified as “Stumpf’s Barn.”
In 1977 the family and firm moved to Minneapolis. Later Bill and Sharon Stumpf took up residence in a remodeled cottage in Stockholm, Wisconsin. Sharon Stumpf continues to live in the home they designed together situated in the charming village on the Mississippi River. The design firm continues to honor the legacy of the Stumpf design ideals and principles under the leadership of his friend, collaborator, and business partner, Jeff Weber. The firm is now called Weber and Associates.
Most assuredly, Meryl Streep would reprise Julia Child, if “Bill and Julia,” the movie, were made. For those who knew Bill Stumpf, the question is, “Who should play Bill?”
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