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I guess I should do a cross-breeding / materials section every day by the looks of things. But the truth is that I saw these on design milk and wanted to show good examples of things I slaughter. Just to prove a point that I'm not being mean.

The bottle and cup are actually made of glass. And this is incredibly clever because they take the concept in our heads of these products and what they are made out of in our daily lives. And then by mixing it with the traditional materials for such products, they are made somewhat of an icon. They are as if pieces of art rather than products.

As for the "Sweet Cake" design by Beerd von Stokkum, I think these are wonderful little things because they blur the line between the user and the product. We know these objects not to exist without cupcakes or muffins in them and thus whatever we put inside the bowl-basin-whatever-thingy becomes part of the object. Part of the design. It is as if an interaction is created and the design merely presents the object inside. Like a stand presents a piece of art. In this case though, the piece of art is Life. And do you know what? Its the biggest masterpiece of them all.

I said a One, a Two, a One-two-three-four

Two quick thoughts.

Firstly - materials. Material choice to design is the same as air to us... we sort of need it. The chair above is brilliant as it depicts the material as its found in its origin and is a very clever idea. Well done, Andrea Magnani and Giovanni Delvecchio.

Secondly - cross-breeding. Good idea. I've seen a card looking like a Apple MacBook saying: "You are the apple of my eye"...Brilliant. But this? I'd much rather see the designer sit on an actual lamp, crush it and be left with glass in his rear end.

The phantom of a bike is there, inside my mind

I am going to give you 5 reasons why this, the Phantom Bike by Olli Erkkila is better than a cabbage.

1) The bike was designed... designed very well with its retro, futuristic, smooth and edgy style. Not even its mother could love a cabbage for its looks.

2) A cabbage goes off, this is timeless in its inventiveness

3) The functionality of the bike has been well engineered and thought through... A cabbage plonks through the ground and then just sits there... being ugly. What's functional about that?!

4) Even though it looks like nothing seen before, everyone knows what to do with the bike. Not even God knows how the heck a cabbage works or should be dismantled.

5) The bike is environmentally sound, but even though a cabbage seems to be so too, it will soon start to rot. And then it will smell. This is a clear advantage to the bike.

Any questions?

Come bathe with me

Ron Arad has been known for curvy lines and futuristic designs. He is now also known as the smartest man on earth. Often we make a chair to make it a chair. We make a desk so it is a desk. Jeremy Clarkson said the Alfa Romeo 8c is a piece of art as it has no function but its own existence. This bath/shower is also art, but I would not go as far as to say Clarkson is thus wrong since it serves another function. Clarkson has been wrong twice and this shall not be the third time.

No, it is not art, it is more accurately described as a masterpiece. Anyone challenging the idea should be shot. If a design is so brilliant that anyone looking at it instantly recognizes the design's simplicity, functionality and efficiency, then it is impossible that it should not be cherished until the end of time. Or is it?

Efficient? Well, not really. For starters, one would need a bathroom the size of Nepal to house the damn thing. Secondly, all of earth's supplies of ceramics need to be summoned for one to be built and installing it on an average wall compromises the likelihood of the building still standing by dawn.

So if it is not environmentally sound or an example of social design, surely this product shouldn't deserve to exist? Wrong again. Each and every one of us should own one. The day we stop dreaming and playing with shapes is the day we as designers accept the fact that we are really a herd of mongooses. May God help us all.

Just put some slap on and it'll be fine

It seems that whenever I am bored I tend to be on thecoolhunter.com and last night I found these. So come grab a chair, have a cuppa and lets discuss branding.

Successful little marketing tool, isn't it. Or would you prefer to name it lies? Dirty, filthy lies. When we brand objects do we hide them under a label to make them better? Are the fries sold under the Gucci logo any less harmful to you than the ones under the arched M?

Brands create an image of the company, of the product. We can be sure that if it "says Kellogg's on the box, it's Kellogg's in the box." As cheesy as that ad may be. Brands associate perceptions and experiences with products. And if anyone actually chooses to use their brand of quality and style to advertise something that goes against what the brand stands for, they should take the very chair I invited them to sit on and use it do turn their own head into a modern artpiece.

Brand value is something that is earned through hard work and high quality, a brand is never lies, who would even say such a thing... oh wait...

I shall be a Marti(a)n on Pluto

You know how a couple of weeks ago I promised to move to the Moon and dedicate the rest of my life to developing a space shuttle to take me to Pluto if anyone created another LEGO inspired product? Well, time to nut up or shut up. I found this and hence, here is a humble plead to NASA:

Please good gentlemen and gentle ladies of NASA, can you please give me a lift to the moon? I promise I won't be annoying or try to play "I spy" the whole way there. Also, I give you the credit for the amazing faster-than-light-sound-and-Usain-Bold-combined space shuttle I will be building on the dark side of the moon. It will be of no use to me once I'm on Pluto anyway.

Yours truly,

A man with no hope in humankind.

PS. Lego-inspired products belong in the sewer.

Spice things up

When we grow so used to something that we take it as it is without thinking whether it could be better we lose all rights to claiming ourselves creative and accept the label of an imbecile.

If products had no personality they would be lifeless. What is lifeless is dead. What is dead is buried. I wish i could bury all poorly designed products that just sit there like a pile of misery. If I did that though, greenpeace would soon nail me to a wall and have ants slowly disassemble my body and carry it away in small pieces to the farthest corners of the earth, because most of these low-value items aren't even designed to be environmentally sound. Good grief, man, if you have the guts to design a useless thing that people don't feel attached to and throw away quickly, please-please have the decency to make it at least recyclable or even better, reusable.

The cruets above are of no relevance to this rant. They are of high emotional value and have character. You feel attached to them and people are less likely to discard products that they feel attached to... FACT

SIlence

I will not say anything about this. Let's just gaze at it and admire the strength that a structure can give to a flimsy material.

Go Die

If anyone decides to make anything else out of legos I will actually consider moving to the moon and dedicate my life to build a spaceship that will allow me to move to pluto. This is for two main reasons: A) don't worry about it, Pluto, I'm not a planet either, and B) anywhere closer is too close to such idiocy.

When I saw my first one, the LEGO cap, I though in blessed recognition: "haha, this is quite funny". Now, when I see anything else inspired by, imitating or copying LEGO style, I wish to send a rather strict letter to the designer suggesting he or she bought an enormous amount of LEGO blocks, built a cliff and plunged off it to his or her death.

Can we please stop polluting design with this blatant vomit. I am sorry for my harsh words but someone had to say something.

This is our bread and butter for crying out loud

This design just makes me angry. Very angry. Angry at people.

Are we as product designers really regressing? Are we getting more stupid? It seems as if our brain cells are either hibernating or decided to have a brawl which soon turned into a massacre and now we browse around in the streets trying to hunt some wallabies. Can we please come to our senses!

There aren't many words I can use to describe this toaster. It is simply that amazing. HOW have we not thought of this before. WHY do we still have some metal/plastic boxes in our kitchens which in most cases are just sitting there, being evil. This reminds me of the Eddie Izzard's joke about toasters that lie. If you can see your slice of bread as it toasts, you are blatantly going to get the best result, just the way you want it. Speaking of wanting, I want one of these things. I am really quite sure that my life as I know it will end in a most horrid way should I not be able to get one of these toasters.

I'm sitting here in the boring room, It's just another rainy Sunday afternoon

"Just lately, we have been wondering how we could improve our graphic design studio to make it a more creative workspace. Whether it means adding a huge mural on the wall or simply designing some graphic art, we feel it could do with a bit of a change. After all, an extravagant and funky working space should give you an extra boost of inspiration!" ... writes Lucinda Thompson.

Now, I do not know what floats your boat, but I can definitely buy into this. Especially the LEGO idea - putting its workers in a similar situation as the users, sitting at a tiny table with blocks in front of them and making something. But even more so the office on the top two photos. If reading this is not the first time you have got lost and ended up on my blog, you will realise that I am a genuine believer in the design brilliance present in nature.

So why wouldn't we want to put our workers in a situation where they are closely in contact with such inspiring environment. And just as an insult to injury, I think this is by far a superior design solution to any high-rise office building because having nature around by default calms people and relieves stress. So, what kind of a person would think that is a rubbish environment for their workforce? An ignorant fool? My answer is yes, that is quite an accurate description.