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Advocating
holistic design
Hartmut Esslinger, founder of frog design, is
a phenomenon in the product design world. Curve
editor Belinda Stening met Esslinger in San
Francisco and talked to him about his rebellious
beginnings and his thoughts on the future.
In 2006, Esslinger and his wife, Patricia Roller,
who had led frog design together for more then
twenty years as co-CEOs, transferred operational
control of the company to Doreen Lorenzo, frog’s
chief operating officer.
In his professorial role Esslinger travels to
Vienna to teach convergent design at the University
of Applied Arts and is working on a book (to
be released this year) about his life, frog
design, business, culture and the way he wants
to inspire creative people to work for a better
and more ecologically minded future. |
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Think
globally to design locally
Scanpan and Dolphin torches are household names,
but their market dominance depends on Australian
design agency Design Resource.
Founded in 1980 by John Brown while the Australian
industrial design sector was in its infancy,
Design Resource is one of the largest multidisciplinary
consultancies in the country.
Brown, a New Zealander, has had thirty-eight
years of experience in industrial design. After
studying in London, he worked and taught in
Europe, Asia and Australia.
He has drawn on this global experience to create
Design Resource’s philosophy… |
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| Image supplied by Aark
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Prototype
pros forecast the future
Designing products in three dimensions takes
a lot of skill. A prototype that you can touch,
feel and interact with helps to reveal intricate
design details and accelerates the design process.
Curve editor, Belinda Stening, spoke to key
players in the prototyping business to get a
clearer picture of what the future holds for
this competitive industry.
The building of a prototype has been essential
to the product development process since the
early days of model-making. But prototyping
technologies have come a long way in the last
twenty years.
We speak to key players in the prototyping business
to get a clearer picture of what the future
holds for this competitive industry. |
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| © Dennis Kunkel Microscopy
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Following
nature's lead
Biomimetic materials – synthetic materials
that mimic nature – might be future focused,
but they are not new. Leonardo da Vinci drew
inspiration for his inventions from nature and
by pulling apart and examining in detail the
mechanics of organisms (say, the wings of a
bird) he was able to mimic nature and apply
this knowledge to his inventions. More recently,
the structures created by bees have been mimicked
to produce lightweight, strong honeycomb-structured
materials, and Velcro, invented by George de
Mestral, who noticed how burdock seeds stuck
in his dog’s coat, is now a widely used
fastening system.
The mimicry of biomimetics can take a variety
of forms. A material may look, feel and react
like a biological species or simply be inspired
by nature. Biomimicry is really about what we
can learn and apply from biological systems. |
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In
the bag
Ever wished you could keep your laptop unplugged
for longer? A solar-powered laptop bag, recently
launched by rushfaster.com.au, might help.
Designed by US-based Voltaic Systems, the bag
– called the Voltaic Generator –
uses a single solar panel to produce 14.7 watts
of power. This means laptop users can unplug
from the power grid and power-up from the sun.
A full day of sunlight provides enough energy
to fully charge a typical laptop and other handheld
electronics, according to Voltaic Systems CEO,
Shayne McQuade. |
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Simplicity,
clarity and ties to tradition
This year the red dot communication design awards
focused on packaging design, which had the highest
number of entries of any category.
To lift the status of this category, red dot
worked for the first time with the European
Brand Design Association. Four thought-provoking
designs were awarded 'best of best' red dot
awards in this category.
Orhan Irmak's Istanbul combined tradition and
modernity to create a package containing a series
of four glasses with coasters for the traditional
Turkish drinks: tea, raki, yoghurt and water.
“Design is the interpretation of the world
in some way or another," says Irmak. "If
you come from a city like Istanbul, which is
centuries old, then traditions provide valuable
clues for the designer.” |
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Into
the blue
The BMW Hydrogen 7 round-the-world tour stopped
off in Melbourne earlier this year.
BMW's work towards a motoring future without
fossil fuels has involved thirty years of hydrogen
technology research, and there's probably twenty
years of research to go.
BMW is aligning with environmentally minded
celebrities to raise the profile of hydrogen
technology, and inviting the public to view
a car of the future,
The BMW Hydrogen 7 is not a concept car but
a production model luxury sedan within the BMW
7 Series, based on the BMW 760 Li. |
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| image supplied by Wenger |
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On
the cutting edge
Michael Bogle
A knife is not a multipurpose tool; it is designed
exclusively as a cutting tool. When a knife
blade is used for a screwdriver, hole punch,
scraper, wire cutter or prising lever, the result
can be a disaster for the blade, the blade point
and the handle assembly.
The well-known Swiss Army Knife, however, subverted
the tool logic of the knife by incorporating
attachments that give the owner specifically
designed implements for other potentially punishing
uses. This knife is considered one of the first
pocket-sized multipurpose tools. |
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Design
and the city
Laura Traldi
“In Torino, healthy
optimism is in the air,” says Alessandro
Bertin, the communications director of Torino
World Design Capital.
The World Design Capital Project is an initiative
of the International Design Alliance (IDA) –
a collaboration of the International Council
of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) and
the International Council of Graphic Design
Associations (Icograda). The title was awarded
this year, for the first time, to the northern
Italian city of Torino (Turin), which is celebrated
all over the world for its car design.
It was a nomination that somewhat surprised
a lot of Italians, who are used to considering
Milan the design capital. But the IDA wanted
to draw attention to a city that is not yet
universally acknowledged for its role on the
design scene; one that is able to use design
as a tool for growth. |
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