Blobjects and Beyond

Phil Patton was born Lewis Foster Patton in Durham, North Carolina on March 23, 1952. He received a bachelor's degree in English and history from Harvard University in 1974 and a master's degree in comparative literature from Columbia University in 1975. He worked briefly as a fact-checker for Esquire and as the editor of Delta's in-flight magazine, but decided to become a freelance writer.

He wrote about technology and design for several publications including Art in America, Esquire, Smithsonian, Architectural Digest, and Wired. For many years he wrote on design for the Home section of The New York Times and The New York Times Magazine. His first book, Razzle-Dazzle: The Curious Marriage of Television and Professional Football, was published in 1984. His other books include Open Road: A Celebration of the American Highway, Made in U.S.A.: The Secret Histories of the Things That Made America, Dreamland: Travels Inside the Secret World of Roswell and Area 51, Bug: The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile, and Michael Graves Designs: The Art of the Everyday Object.

He taught in the design criticism program at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and helped develop several museum shows, as either a curator or a consultant. He died from complications of emphysema on September 22, 2015 at the age of 63.

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