Neal Small, renowned and influential designer, passed away in Ellsworth, ME on October 31, 2020 at the age of 83. Beginning his career as a product designer in New York City in the early 1960s, he designed for prominent American furniture and lighting companies of the time, such as Lightolier, George Kovacs, Koch and Lowy and was a contemporary of Milton Glaser, Robert Indiana and others who would later set the tone for modernist American art and design.

By the late 1960s, he founded Neal Small Designs and produced his own line of sculpture, furniture, lighting and mirrors that have been exhibited around the world and are part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum and other prestigious art and design institutions. Much of Neal’s early work was made in acrylic and he is credited with pioneering the use of lucite and plexiglas in furniture and art. For this, the New York Times coined him the “Prince of Plastic”. Beautiful, geometric shapes and clever functionality were the theme in much of his work. He was the recipient of nine awards for Excellence of Design from Industrial Design magazine in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institute.

In the 1970s and 80s, he was a partner in Squire & Small homeware business which developed design-oriented homewares sold by mail order and through museum gift shops. During this time, he was also a dedicated runner, completing the New York City marathon numerous times and frequently training with former Olympian, Frank Shorter. In the 1990s he served on the Board of Directors of the Cooper Hewitt Museum of Fine Art. Neal moved to Maine 20 years ago, settling in Steuben where, in addition to producing his art and actively following American politics, he was a passionate cultivator of orchids and admirer of nature. Watching the sun rise over Dyer Bay, he would say, was his definition of paradise. He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Ben and Olivia Small, his grandchildren, Joshua and Naomi and his sister Nancy Small, all of New York, and by his beloved dog, Sophie. Neal will be remembered as relentlessly creative and original with a great sense of humor. He will be missed by his family and friends.