When Ray Wilkes arrived in New York in the early 1960s with a Royal College of Art scholarship to study in the United States, he went straight to an office on 50th Street. Through his RCA connections, he was referred to George Nelson, the renowned architect, designer, and editor.
But first, Wilkes had to get past Hilda Longinotti, Nelson’s longtime assistant. “I walked in and said I wanted to meet George Nelson and she said, ‘That won’t be possible! Get out of here!’ It turns out that before I came in, they had had a big argument,” Wilkes recalls, so Longinotti was not in the mood to help.
Once Wilkes was initiated into Nelson’s world, he quickly made an impact. “Always...
See more products from this designer
