Fred Lowen

Fritz "Fred" Karl Heinz Lowen (1919–2005) is a designer, member of the Order of Australia, and an inductee in the Design Institute of Australia Hall of Fame.

Biography

Lowen was born 1919 in Upper Silesia, formerly a part of Germany. His father was Karl Loewenstein, later deported to Minsk Ghetto and Theresienstadt concentration camp.^{[citation needed]} He was transported to Australia on the HMT Dunera arriving in Sydney on the 6 September 1940.

Starting in September 1945, Lowen designed and made wooden salad bowls, trays and lazy susans with Ernest Rodeck under the name of FLER. He manufactured a Fred Ward-designed chair for the Myer department store in Melbourne, Victoria. Between 1955-58 Lowen designed the SC55 and SC58, the Aluminium Shell Chair, mahogany fold-out extension table and cane back chairs.^{[citation needed]} The Narvik dining and lounge ranges were released in 1961, the Fleronde (1964/65), dining setting (1966/67), desk and chair for the Australian Exhibition at Expo 67 in Montreal, Canada, and Flerena in 1968.^{[citation needed]}

Lowen started Twen in 1968 and designed the Twen-1 range (1968) and Twen-2 in 1969. In 1970 Lowen designed the T-21 range and model T-4. In 1972 Twen was reborn as Tessa. The T-6 (1973), the T-8 range (with and without armrests) designed in 1976, and the T-9 followed. In the 1980s Lowen designed the Delmont (1980), Sarina (1981) and Sling (1981).^{[citation needed]}

In May 1987 Lowen became a member of the Order of Australia. He died in Melbourne in 2005.