Notes on Objectified by Gary Hustwit
From the Objectified blog today:
Due to popular demand (!) Objectified’s New York theater run at the IFC Center Theaters has been extended another week, through Tuesday, May 26th. New Yorkers, don’t miss the chance to see the film on the big screen on IFC Center’s gorgeous high-definition projection system.
I couldn’t be happier to hear that! If you are in NYC go see this movie!!
The film was almost entirely people being interviewed, so I grabbed the list of people from the film’s website and jotted down some thoughts about almost everyone.
All quotes below are very roughly paraphrased!
Paola Antonelli (Museum of Modern Art, New York)
Designers are the future intellectuals. In her dream designers are to America (and the world) what Philosophers are to the French and Italians.
Chris Bangle (BMW Group, Munich)
Cars look sleek and fast, but they’re really just bent sheets of metal. The motion is all in the design. Every car was originally sculpted by hand.
Tim Brown, David Kelley, Bill Moggridge, Jane Fulton Suri (IDEO)
Brainstorming sessions at IDEO look like so much fun! It is one of my new life goals to work at/with IDEO or a company equally as interesting. I am in love with their group collaborative process. Interesting bit about interaction design: software, etc. but really everything has to do with interaction so it applies to physical objects as well. Objects used to tell us their function by looking at their form, but since the invention of the microchip, we can put an abstract concept like the internet in a glass and plastic rectangle. Aliens might not know what to do with an iPhone in the same way they would with a spoon or a chair. Talked about sustainability. “Most things I’ve designed are now in landfills.” Would you be comfortable with this product if it washed up on a beach? Eames didn’t have to worry about the health or environmental implication of his design because it wasn’t yet common knowledge how badly we were affecting the environment. How many toothbrushes do we use in our life? What if we only had to buy tips and not handles? Design things that wear in rather than wear out. The rapidly prototyped half wooden half plastic toothbrush was gorgeous, I want one!!
Anthony Dunne & Fiona Raby (London)
Only design concept products to be displayed in museums and galleries. A student questioned them on this and they replied that they felt they could make a bigger impact showing ideas @ MoMA than producing a few expensive prototypes that nobody sees. Interesting. Create robots that don’t look like robots. One robot contains all your data, like a safe, and only reveals it when you look deeply for 5 full minutes into its binocular shaped eyes. Creates emotional connection and feeling of security. I’m so glad these two were in the movie, because I saw their robots at the fabulous Design and the Elastic Mind show @ MoMA last year, but had no idea what they were about.
Dan Formosa, Davin Stowell (Smart Design)
Interesting to watch them design everyday objects, such as garden shears, based on ergonomics. That famous OXO vegetable peeler was originally just a vegetable peeler stuck into a bike handle grip. We design for the alzheimers-weak and the ironman-strong, and then the middle takes care of itself.
Naoto Fukasawa (Tokyo)
Gave a nice, and funny little riff on Muji design philosophy.
Jonathan Ive (Apple, California)
Rare behind-the-scenes look at Apple’s production and design. Ive is a genius. He’s designed every Apple product since the original iMac. Dieter Rams says Apple is one of the only companies around today that take design seriously.
Marc Newson (London/Paris)
Keeps tables full of interesting materials around his studio. I love this chair that he designed.
Dieter Rams (Kronberg, Germany)
His accent is SO cute! Many look at Braun products as the predecessors to Jonathan Ive’s work for Apple.
Karim Rashid (New York)
“I have an iPod in one pocket, a cellphone in the other, and I’m on my laptop, yet I go to sit down and the chair looks like a wagon wheel with its wooden spindles!” Why are we so attached to archetypes? Hilarious pink glasses.
Alice Rawsthorn (International Herald Tribune)
Provided nice narration throughout the film. Interesting bits on sustainability.
Rob Walker (New York Times Magazine)
What we buy makes a statement to ourselves about who we are. Yeah, I’m that guy with the Obama sticker or the Jesus fish on my car. Very funny. “If I had a billion dollars, I would run an ad campaign: ‘enjoy the things you already own, today!’”
