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Design

• Apr 30 2008
  Conférence Armchair by Jean Prouvé by David Goligorsky
  Aesthetics, Art, Design, History of Design, Inspiration, Materials, Product Design, furniture, history, wood

  Jean Prouvé has done some fascinating nearly-Bauhaus work, including this c. 1950 armchair. It does have Bauhaus school elements such as the sharp color contrast and choice of colors as well as the textural contrast of metal and Leatherette. I would very much like to admire this piece in person.
  
  
• Apr 23 2008
  The Better The Schooner by David Goligorsky
  Aesthetics, Design, Engineering, history, wood

  The Thomas W. Lawson is the only seven-masted schooner ever built and holds the honor of being the largest schooner even built. Additionally, it is the largest ever pure-sailing ship (a sailing ship without auxiliary engine for propulsion). That said, it failed to carry the amount of cargo that it was designed for, sailors likened the handling to that of a "beached whale," and the boat was relegated to coastal shipping of coal instead of the mighty transatlantic voyages it was meant for. When it did finally set sail for London, it was torn to bits, killing ...
  
  
• Apr 18 2008
  Text Clock at Fuori Salone 2008 by David Goligorsky
  Aesthetics, Apple, Art, Associative Thought, Data Presentation, Design, Engineering, Product Design, Typography, Visualization

  This clock by Christiaan Postma is fantastic. At first, it looks like a Sol LeWitt conceptual art piece. Then, you realize that some of the lines are turning to form the word of the hour. You can see the words forming and going back into chaos, which I guess tells you how far along you are in the hour. This part reminds me of the Mondaine "Don't Rush" wristwatch. Let's see this Christiaan Postma piece as a wristwatch! (...or an iPhone app.) (clock found via Pan-Dan)
  
  
• Apr 04 2008
  Christian Dell by David Goligorsky
  Aesthetics, Architecture, Art, Design, History of Design, Materials, Politics, Product Design, history

  Christian Dell was a German silversmith who is probably best known for his lamp designs through Gebr. Kaiser & Co. They represent the use of bakelite and plastics in products as early as 1929. According to the Wikipedia page, Walter Gropius invited him to America after Dell was forced from the Frankfurt art school by the Nazis, but Dell stayed in Germany. Now... Walter Gropius was the founder of the Bauhaus school at Weimar before it was shut down by the Nazis. Gropius eventually found himself in America and became the director of the Harvard Graduate School of ...
  
  
• Apr 04 2008
  I think we all believe in change by Christian Eager
  Associative Thought, Design, Graphic Design

  I saw a new five-dollar bill the other day, and I can't help but agree with the implicit judgment from Jonathan Hoefler's juxtaposition: it sucks. I'm reading The Wisdom of Crowds right now and couldn't help but think about how it illustrated what seems so obvious from Surowiecki's crystal prose: aggregating diverse ideas generally produces the best results. Sure, there sometimes needs to be a mechanism for picking the best, but that works pretty well for Linux, the Iowa Electronic Market, and, evidently, the Royal Mint. Related: Get Helvetica Off Our Money
  
  
• Mar 19 2008
  Schnell! by David Goligorsky
  Aesthetics, Design, Engineering, Film, History of Design, Product Design, video

  I really like the Trabant 601. I think the body styling is perfect for a utilitarian vehicle but easily crosses over into a sports car (these vehicles have a long history of modification for rally racing). This phenomenon is also apparent in my friend, the Volvo 240. It is at once unassuming and enticing. I came upon a commercial (shown below) for the Trabant from the 60's which shows just how schnell and robust the car is. My favorite part is the scene where luggage is teleported from the street into the trunk. Every ...
  
  
• Mar 18 2008
  Oscar Diaz Conceptual Product Design by David Goligorsky
  Art, Associative Thought, Data Presentation, Design, Experience Design, Iconoclasm, Interaction Design, Perceived Value, Pragmatism, Product Design, Remix, Visualization

  I appreciate the counter-re-purposing of this object by Oscar Diaz. He made the candles to fit a standard E27 bulb fitting. I also like his calendar (concept?), which uses the controlled spread of an ink blot to depict the date. In the project statement, he describes how this calendar does not "signal" the passing of time, but gives a true sense of elapsed time by taking advantage of a slow physical process.
  
  
• Mar 10 2008
  Oobject by Christian Eager
  Design, Inspiration

  Reminiscent of Ffffound and the MoOM, albeit with more buzzwords and ads, is Oobject. It's a user-generated, but editorially-curated, superlative-object directory. If you can get over the gratuitously hyperbolic list titles, there's some good stuff for perusal. A few of my favorite lists after poking around include Amazing Analog Computers, Cool Aircraft Interiors, and Post Modern Cuckoo Clocks. REAC 600 Series Computer Interior of the Concorde Mini Cooper Cuckoo It seems to be updated daily, more or less, with a new or newly updated list of 10-20 objects.
  
  
• Mar 09 2008
  Nendo by Christian Eager
  Architecture, Design, Product Design

  Giving people a small " ! " moment. There are so many small " ! " moments hidden in our everyday. nendo concept I saw nendo's chocolate pencils on pica + pixel the other day. Candy collaborations, however, are the tiniest sliver of the work they do: furniture, product, architecture, graphic; they design it all. I particularly like Time, Yori (below), & the Book House.
  
  
• Feb 27 2008
  Hard to Pin Down by David Goligorsky
  Aesthetics, Design, Perceived Value, Product Design, Remix, wood

  There was an exhibit in 2006 that offered viewers a look at a relatively large collection of clothes pins. They are very simple objects, but as a product, there are countless offerings. In a product with one simple (intended) use and hardly any parts, it is interesting to think about how much variation is possible. I like the way the exhibitors described this: a lesson in the evolution of products, a lesson in change as inherent human need, as well as the need to interpret, to innovate, to say the same thing differently. (via UPPERCASE)
  
  

• « Previous Entries

recent posts

• Matteo Ferrari - “Automotive Monogomy”
• Conférence Armchair by Jean Prouvé
• Art by the masses (Part 1 of 2)
• Lindy Hop
• The Better The Schooner
• Text Clock at Fuori Salone 2008
• Olle Eksell