Who is don featherstone

Featherstone, whose flamingo was one of more than plastic ornaments he designed during his career, died Monday in Fitchburg, Mass.

He was He designed the flamingo for Union Products, a Massachusetts plastics company where he worked for more than four decades. He eventually became a part-owner and president.

Although many of his other designs sold better, none stirred as much fervor as the species he dubbed Phoenicopterus ruber plasticus. The son of a woolen mill supervisor, Featherstone was born Jan.

His parents recognized his talent and enrolled him in private art lessons when he was in grade school. After high school, he attended the Worcester Art Museum School. Featherstone, however, wanted to earn a living.

A week after graduating, he went to work at Union. His first assignment was designing a duck. He bought a live duck from a nearby farm and studied it for six weeks.

He named it Charlie, gave it baths in his sink and set up mirrors so that Charlie would think he had friends.

This time, Featherstone did not go find a live model. Assyriologist and associate professor Martin Worthington, who worked on translations for the Marvel movie, created the first film entirely in Babylonian in Claire Voon is a former staff writer for Hyperallergic. Originally from Singapore, she grew up near Washington, D. More by Claire Voon. Subscribe to our newsletter Get the latest news, reviews, and commentary delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign Up. Skip to content. Become a Member. The Latest Shop Hyperallergic for Art-inspired Gifts and More From thought-provoking books to various dazzling accessories, visit the Hyperallergic Store for artful presents this holiday season. Forgivable Lies, Three Painters Keep You Guessing In a psychological context, confabulation refers to obvious falsehoods invented by individuals to fill gaps in their memory. Featherstone, who studied art at the Worcester Art Museum, created the ornamental flamingo in for plastics company Union Products Inc.

Featherstone worked at Union for 43 years, inventing hundreds of products in that time and rising to the position of president before his retirement in He was forever humble about the flamingo, and in fact, his wife often brought it up in conversations with people they would meet, bringing a sheepish smile from her husband, she said.

The flamingo even made an appearance on the silver screen. The magazine hands out an annual spoof on the Nobel Prizes known as the Ig Nobels. Abrahams became good friends with Featherstone after he won the Ig Nobel for art in Featherstone kept his real artistic talent under wraps to everyone except those closest to him, Abrahams said.