Design Something.

Philippe Starck is a French born Product design and probably is best known to me for two things, claiming that “design is dead,” and for his functionless juicer design. (Something which is a pet hate of mine.)

Philippe Starck has made designs in all kinds of industrial design and product design areas, from interior to mass produced consumer goods such as toothbrushes and chairs. He has been working as an interior and product designer since 1975 and has accrued a vast reputation for several things across the design world, his work his wide ranging and something which can often found to provoke a response. His product designs are often usable household items which Starck himself helps to market for mass production. His awards are too long to list and his work is admired by many allowing him to work with many large multinational firms, so why does he have this success? Does he deserve this attention?

If you haven’t already seen it yet Starck has been the face of a new product design reality television show, the producers must love his wacky personality and style, (because the students themselves are nothing to shout about.) The show is about whittling down 12 students hand-picked by Starck to compete to win a place at his design studio. ‘Design For Life’ is a good show in the sense that it has brought the idea of product design into the public viewpoint and has shown the viewer what product design is. Starck provides for the viewer that eccentricity and exuberance most televisions shows showcase, it’s a shame he picked such mindless idiots who have little imagination and ideas to win a priceless place at his design studio.

The ‘Leggy Chrome Juicer.’

This is one of the single most useless products i have come across, what is it’s purpose? It has zero functionality and is simple a style piece. But it’s a juicer, surely the minimum it should do is it set function. Yet I have heard many designers speak of how much they love this item and confess to owning one at home, why? It is one of the main reasons I have had a black mark against Starck’s name.

Article written by Jared Thompson

Head writer of Design Something Blog, currently studying Product design at the University of Central Lancashire in his final year. He has interest in minimal, clean and simplistic design styles.

Follow Jared (@Jthompsondesign) on twitter!

Your taught how to tell the time as a young child, whether it’s through a small wristwatch or a big grandfather clock you had in your living room. These clocks attempt to confuse you further and look at new and interesting ways in which we can tell the time.

Vadim Kibardin: ‘Killer Clock Concept.’

Myznik Egor: ‘Soft Clock Concept.’ (This was selected for a red-dot design award in 2009.)

Yiran Qian: ‘vice versa’

Furniture can come in all shapes and sizes, design and typography go hand in hand, designers the world over use typography in various ways and means. Typography is used by artists and designers the world over and can make any piece of work stand out and really make the piece of work feel unique. Here is a collection of typography inspired furniture I have found whilst researching over the Internet in the past few weeks.

Found over at crookedbrains.net

Found over at designspotter.com, this is a ‘Muungano bench’ which has been lazer cut out.

Known as ‘La Dresser’ this piece of furniture was found over at the death by kerning blog, made by Wary Myers using an old set of drawers and revamped them.

Swiss firm Set 26 created this furniture and it is also available in six different colours also.

This design of a typography table can be found over at palette industries.

Called the Dharma Lounge, it reads “Stand Forget Breath Acknowledge Observe” this again was made by the people over at Pallette industries.

A very complex idea but put together with great precision, made by the American contemporary artist Joseph Kosuth.

These alphabet drawers are handmade over at Kent and London, the drawers were inspired by vintage printing blocks.

This campus floor lamp was found over at behance and again was made by those creatives over at Pallette Industries.

Character recycled typography was found over at Yanko Design. These reinstalled LEDs have a life span of 30,000 hours, and are recycled old lights which have previously would have been sent to landfill once there lifespan had ended.

Please leave your thoughts and comments, or any designs you may have come across yourself.

If you have any thoughts on the designs featured I would love to hear your comments.

Article written by Jared Thompson

Follow Jared (@Jthompsondesign) on twitter!