The Honeywell Round

Henry Dreyfuss designed the Honeywell thermostat known as the Round, a Cooper-Hewitt Object of the Day :

Dreyfuss modernized the appearance of Honeywell’s thermostats in the 1930s; among the first was the Chronotherm, which incorporated a “digital” clock into its display. Dreyfuss was frustrated, however, that rectangular thermostats never seemed to hang squarely on the wall. Work began on a round thermostat in 1940.

I have a Honeywell Round (c. 1959) on my desk for occasional use as a paperweight. It’s not the most effective paperweight (porcelain faucet-handles and flat rocks work much better), but gosh, is it beautiful. And while we’re on the subject of repurposing: my desk is really a kitchen table that I use as a desk.

A related post
Five desks

[From the Cooper-Hewitt website: “Due to the federal government shutdown, Cooper-Hewitt’s administrative offices and the National Design Library are closed; but all off-site events, including programs at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Center in Harlem, National Design Week, and Design in the Classroom, will continue as scheduled.”]