Some history about the artist. Very early on Helen Dryden showed her artistic ability, she was trained in landscrape painting but had no real interest in it. She focused on fashion design and went from designing covers for vogue magazine 1909-22, to designing costumes for Broadway shows, and then in the late 1920s she did ads for Lux soap.
The Dura Company manufactured auto parts until the 1930s when Helen Dryden turned her attention to industrial design and created a decorative line at Dura. She became Art Director for the Dura Company and probably designed the above candle case for Eveready at the Dura factory. The Dura Company existed from 1922 to 1962 but very little else is known about the company. Their products were distributed by G.A. Soden and Co., from Chicago and I would love to find more of the Dura items that this talented lady created.
It was her work on the interior of the 1936 Studebaker Dictator and President models that established Helen Dryden as an important twentieth-century industrial designer. Although her work was developed under the watchful eyes of another renowned automotive designer, the Studebaker ads proclaimed, “It’s styled by Helen Dryden“.
You can purchase this candle case in my etsy shop. It works with a C battery and lights when you pick it up.
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