Michael Lax, 69; Noted Industrial Designer, Sculptor

Michael Lax, industrial designer whose work ranged from teapots to bathtubs, has died at the age of 69.

Lax, also a sculptor, died of a heart attack in his home in Bridgehampton, N.Y., on May 28, his family said.

Two of his best-known household designs were a teakettle with a bent teak handle and bright primary colors on enameled cast iron that he did for Copco in 1962, and a small high-intensity mini-lamp pairing a cube and sphere that he created for Lightolier in 1964, called the Lytegem. The lamp is in New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Lax also designed glassware for Mikasa, storage containers for Tupperware and a bathtub for American Cyanamid Co. He worked with ceramics, glass, metal and plastics, creating products for such companies as Dansk, Rosenthal, Salton, Dunbar Glass and Metaal. Using wood, he also created a series of playground equipment called “Cut Outs for Play.”

Born in New York, Lax graduated from the New York School of Music and Art and from Alfred University’s New York State College of Ceramics. He studied Scandinavian modern design while on a Fulbright Fellowship to Finland in the early 1950s, and later applied that influence to his household products.

Lax is survived by two daughters, Jennifer of Los Angeles and Rebecca of New York, a granddaughter, and his companion, interior designer Kirsten Childs of New York.