Donald 'Don' Featherstone (January 25, 1936 - June 22, 2015) was an American artist and sculptor who worked for famous blow mold company Union Products, best known for his massively popular creation, the Lawn Flamingo.
Don with his realmingo
History[]
Don was born on January 25, 1936 in Worcester, Massachusetts. After graduating from the art school of the Worcester Art Museum, Don was offered a job at Union Products in 1957. His position was a product designer, to create blow mold yard decorations for the company. During his career, he created over 750 different decorations for Union, his first being a girl with a watering can, but his most popular by far was his pink lawn flamingo, which he created based on a national geographic photo as he did not have a real bird for reference. In 1957, he was asked to sculpt a duck, and to make his sculpt as perfect as possible, he purchased a real one, and named it 'Charlie'. He later released the bird in Coggshall park.
Don among a field of his plastic birds
In 1987, Don realized the amount of companies that were making knockoffs of his fan favorite flamingo. To combat this, his signature was molded into each bird beneath the wing to set it apart from fakes. He soon began adding his signature to every one of his molds, for both lawn, garden and holiday decorations.
In 1996, Featherstone received the IG Nobel art prize for his flamingo. He also began his tenure as president of Union products until his retirement in 2000, after 43 years of work at the company and over 750 creations.
Don passed away on June 22, 2015 from Lewy Body Dementia at the age of 79. His legacy goes on to this day in the form of his beloved pink flamingos, which have been made by Cado Products after Union's closing in 2006.
Don with one of his original flamingos in hand
Trivia[]
- After 1987, all of Featherstone's original molds were given his signature to set them apart from knockoffs.
- Don won the IG Nobel Art Prize for his flamingo in 1996.
- Don worked for 43 years with Union Products, creating his pink flamingo in his first year of work with the company in 1957.
- For 35 years, Don and his wife Nancy dressed alike for all their public appearances.
- Don would always keep a flock of 57 of his flamingos on his own yard.