His design was welcoming, for students and the world

Noel Mayo led a life of remarkable achievement—the first Black owner of an American industrial design firm; an inventor who held hundreds of patents; and an eminent scholar in art and design technology at Ohio State—but he never sought the spotlight.

It’s no surprise, then, that one of Mayo’s most important designs was a light-dimmer panel for Lutron Electronics, making rooms more inviting and comfortable. In many ways, that same goal guided Mayo throughout his career and at Ohio State. He sought to make the field of industrial design more open, welcoming and accessible to everyone.

Mayo, who died at age 88 in January in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, taught at Ohio State from 1989 to 2016 while continuing to run his design firm, working with clients including NASA, IBM, museums and international organizations. But he was never too busy for students, says Mary Anne Beecher, professor in the Department of Design.

“Noel loved mentoring,” Beecher says. “He was dedicated to the students’ success, giving them input on their design ideas and strategies on how to be successful in life. He wasn’t sitting around talking about his success. He cared about students and looked for ways to support them.”

One of those students was Uday Dandavate ’95 MA, who arrived from India and was hired as Mayo’s graduate assistant. “I was welcomed into a vibrant community of designers, scholars and activists,” Dandavate says. “Noel welcomed our families, too. He encouraged the children of his students, including my daughter, to play in his office while we worked, as if they, too, belonged in that space of learning and possibility.”

Perhaps Mayo’s childhood inspired his desire to include people. Born Dec. 30, 1937, in Orange, New Jersey, Mayo moved often, living with relatives, before attending Sunnycrest Farm for Negro Boys, a Pennsylvania boarding school.

While in high school, he worked in an art store and discovered a passion for design. He enrolled at the Philadelphia College of Art, where he became the first Black graduate of its industrial design program. Later, he returned to the school as the first Black chair of an industrial design program in the United States.

In 1964, Mayo founded Noel Mayo Associates, the first American Black-owned industrial design firm. He worked for hundreds of clients, designing furniture, interiors, electronics and signage and held hundreds of design patents, including those for lighting controls. Mayo earned lifetime achievement awards from the Industrial Design Society of America and the Design Management Institute.

“Every time I switch on a light, I think of Noel,” Beecher says. “Good design is embedded into your everyday life, and that was Noel’s philosophy. It’s about creating products that add convenience and subtle beauty to the environment without calling attention to themselves.”