Artist and sculptor Don Featherstone, best known for creating the world's most recognizable lawn ornament -- a plastic pink flamingo -- died on Monday morning. He was 79.
Featherstone created the flamingo for Union Products in 1958, shortly after graduating from art school. He continued to work at Union Products for 43 years.
The pink lawn ornaments you know today were created using molds of Featherstone's clay sculptures, which he based on photos of flamingos found in National Geographic. The sculpting process took around three weeks. You can tell if your plastic flamingos are Featherstone originals by searching for the artist's signature on the flamingo's rear end.
"We sold people tropical elegance in a box for less than $10. Before that, only the wealthy could afford to have bad taste," Featherstone told Chicago Tribune in 2007, when asked why his creation had achieved such popularity.
According to the same article, the artist had 57 pink flamingos in his back yard.
We’ve compiled some of the wackiest images of Featherstone's iconic creation in his remembrance.
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