20 Everyday Objects
18
/ 20
1939
Chemex Coffeemaker
- Designed by
- Peter Schlumbohm (1896–1962)
- Material
- Glass, wood, leather
- Produced by
- Chemex Corp., New York, New York
- Dimensions
- 24 x 15 x 15 cm
The Liliane and David M. Stewart Program for Modern Design, gift of Dr. Michael Sze, 2007.14
Drawn to America’s more favourable patent laws, Schlumbohm left his native Germany for New York in 1936. As a chemist, he concocted most of his ideas in the lab, and he particularly admired simple, unadorned laboratory glass.
The Chemex coffeemaker, for example, Schlumbohm’s most famous invention, was inspired by the cone-shaped Erlenmeyer flask. The design is still in production today.