This post may contain affiliate links or mention our own products, please check out our disclosure policy.

Creator Of The Iconic Pink Flamingo Lawn Ornament Dies

Pink flamingo creator
T&G File Photo/Bob Morin

Donald Featherstone, the artist who created the pink flamingo lawn ornament, died recently.

After graduating from art school at the Worcester Art Museum, he designed the pink flamingo in 1957, shortly after starting work at Union Products in Leominster, Massachusetts.

Based on the Real Thing

Featherstone based his flamingo design on photographs of real flamingos he found in National Geographic magazines. As his flamingo design took the world by storm, copycats arose.

Sign up for the newsletter today!

Please enter a valid email address.

An error occurred. Please try again later.

× logo

Thank you for subscribing to the Do It Yourself RV newsletter, keep your eye on your inbox for updates.

To help consumers know they were getting the ‘real pink flamingo’, Featherstone added his signature to the mold in 1987. His signature remained on all official Union Products flamingos for fourteen years.

Pink Flamingo Trivia

The pink flamingo was only one of 750 products that Donald Featherstone created for the company.

Some other interesting bits about this iconic lawn decoration:

  • Sears originally sold the pink flamingos for $2.76 a pair
  • In 2006, Union Products shut down production of the original pink flamingo figures, citing rising electricity and plastic resin costs
  • Cado Products bought the rights to the original pink flamingo mold in 2010, and now sells the decorations in sets of two
  • The flamingos are often sold in a pair, with one flamingo standing erect (nearly three feet tall) and the other bent over, as if looking for food
  • Featherstone originally sculpted the molds for the flamingos out of clay

While you may never have heard of Donald Featherstone, his contributions to lawn decorations didn’t go unrecognized during his lifetime. In 1996, he received the Ig Nobel Prize, a parody of the Nobel Prize.



Support Do It Yourself RV

Do It Yourself RV is run by RVers who share the most up-to-date and valuable content on camping and RVing every week. We couldn’t do it without the support of our readers just like you.

You can help support the efforts of Do It Yourself RV by becoming an RV LIFE Pro subscriber, which gives you access to:

  • RV LIFE App, an RV Safe GPSâ„¢ with voice- and lane guidance, even offline.
  • RV LIFE Trip Wizard, a visual RV trip planner with custom RV-safe routes and a comprehensive directory of RV parks, resorts, and campgrounds.
  • RV LIFE Maintenance, a cloud-based service that tracks your RV maintenance and provides reminders, reports, and related documentation.
  • RV LIFE Masterclass, an online educational platform where RV experts share tips and advice on everything you need to know about RVing.

If you value our site and want to see us continue to grow, please consider supporting us by becoming an RV LIFE Pro subscriber today.