Flamingo

Sculptor Don Featherstone died on Monday at the age of 79.  He was the inventor of the plastic pink flamingo lawn ornament that became an icon of American suburban values of the 1950s and, later, a symbol of postmodern, ironic detachment that hinted at a sense of cultural superiority.

For Featherstone, who designed the bird for Union Products Company’s Plastics for the Lawn line from pictures in a National Geographic magazine spread, the bird was a surprise hit – and the start of a cultural craze.

The company had tried marketing ducks, geese, swans, even ostriches, but nothing came close to the success of the flamingo, with its echoes of Florida exotica, that went on to sell 20 million pairs.  It’s been noted that there are literally more plastic flamingoes than real ones.

Asked in 2007 to explain why he thought the plastic pink flamingo was such a hit,  Featherstone told the Chicago Tribune: “We sold people tropical elegance in a box for less than $10. Before that, only the wealthy could afford to have bad taste.”