MODERNISM, INC. – Design Doc Coming to Streaming & DVD on October 15!

Architect Eliot Noyes was one of the leading pioneers of modern design during the mid-century, post-war boom in the United States.

Educated by Walter Gropius at Harvard, Noyes did more than anyone to align the Modernist design ethos to the needs of ascendant corporate America. His impact on companies like IBM and Mobil Oil paved the way for Apple and many of the other design-conscious brands we know today.

Modernism, Inc. follows Noyes’ career up to a time when disruptive designers of the early '70s began pushing back against the Modernist view of progress. As he did in Eames: The Architect and the Painter (co-directed with Bill Jersey), filmmaker Jason Cohn uses the story of a mid-century icon to raise contemporary questions about the role of a designer in today’s world.

"A first-rate documentary...absorbing....excellent."
-Leonard Maltin

"Well-researched, well-crafted and fascinating.
Noyes created and forged some of the most respected, meaningful, and influential industrial design programs in the United States. The rise and attraction of modernism on the heels of the postwar economic boom birthed contemporary design and philosophy that continue to exist and flourish today, influencing mega businesses, including Apple. The idea of beauty with utility, which was generated from the Bauhaus art movement, continues to remain vital today, and for this, we thank Noyes."
-Sabina Dana Plassa, Film Threat

"Paints the picture of a man who was truly ahead of his time.
Noyes held the belief that design was not an afterthought, but rather something that needed to be infused into every aspect of a company’s thought process. The result helped IBM become the technical design juggernaut of the early personal computing era, and paved the way for companies like Apple to design products for the 21st century."

-Sara Harowitz, The Georgia Straight