100 Great Designs of Modern Times — OXO Good Grips Peeler
Press
The OXO Good Grips Peeler designed by Sam Farber and Smart Design in 1990 has been named in the 100 Great Designs of Modern Times by Fortune and IIT Institute of Design, recognized as an archetypal example of the value of inclusive design, or designs that are accessible to all people, regardless of age or disability.
In 1959, Fortune published a “fascinating and brash” project that set out to discover the 100 best-designed products of the modern era. The list was compiled by Jay Doblin, the director of the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), based on a survey sent out to 100 of the era’s top designers, architects, and design teachers.
In 2019, to recognize the 60-year anniversary of the original list, Fortune again partnered with the IIT Institute of Design (ID), now under the deanship of Denis Weil, to re-create the survey. Following Doblin’s methodology as closely as possible—with some sensible modern tweaks—ID polled educators, influencers, freelance designers, and corporate design teams on the creations they consider truly great.
Perhaps the best example of inclusive design, this peeler and the Good Grips line of innovations shows that design made more accessible to all is also better design for everyone.