Wright, Russel was an American industrial designer, born in Lebanon, Ohio. for a full biography see: American National Biography Online.

In the post-World War II period, Wright concentrated on designing products - often in plastic - that were elegant but inexpensive. His designs for melamine dinnerware imitated the look and feel of traidtional ceramics. Wright worked with American Cyamamid to develop prototype dishes using melamine. He created Meladur, which was widely accepted by restaurants after 1949. In 1953 Wright produced the Residential line of melamine palstic dinnerware and won prestigious Good Design awards at the Museum of Modern Art in 1953 and 1954. In 1957 the Residential Line had gross sales of $4 million.

Wright designed four lines of plastic dinnerware; Residential (1953),; Home Decorator (1954), Idealware (1957), and Flair (1959). For Flair, Wright develoepd four pattersn: Spring Garden, arabesque, Golden Bouquet, and Ming Lace Leaves.

In the 1950s and 60s Wright continued to experiiment with plastics, incorporating vinyl and fiverglass into his unique Dragon Rock house at Manitoga, New York.

See:

Donald Albrecht, Robert Schonfeld, and Lindsay Stramm Shapiro, Russel Wright: Creating American Lifestyle (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2001).