We love design! - Design Classics

This week we’ve decided to go Retro, because we were discussing what it is, exactly, that makes something a Design Classic. There are certain items which have become trend-setters, bench-marks, that have made a before-and-after in design, at least of their particular article. Of course everyone has their list of personal favourites but we have tried to select a few (the magic Imprenta Pronto 5!) that almost no-one would argue with.
So what is it about these particular articles that makes them classics? What produces the ‘gut reaction’ when we see them? Well, one thing they all seem to have in common is clean-ness of line. No frills (without the low-cost airline overtones!) No decoration. They are what they are. They’re functional, they do their job. But of course it’s not just that. There’s something immensely satisfying about them, something that speaks to you. You feel an irresistible urge to touch them, handle them, try them. They stay in your mind. They’re instantly recognisable. You don’t have to be an expert to know that “here is a great piece of design.”

So here’s Number One,
Philippe Starck lemon squeezer.

Does it look like a lemon squeezer? Or like a three-legged spider? A rocket? And yet it is the perfect lemon squeezer. It’s simple. The glass fits underneath, you squeeze the lemon and the juice runs down and into the glass. No mess. No fiddling. Solid. Easy to clean. It works. And it looks wonderful. There’s something special about it. You want to pick it up. Actually, you want to put it in your pocket and take it home. You want to own it.

The VW Beetle, designer Ferdinand Porsche

Everybody knows the Beetle, though not everyone remembers that it was actually designed by Ferdinand Porsche. Yes, Ferdinand Porsche, your actual Porsche. Ah well, no wonder there’s something about it. It follows the basic rules we mentioned: clean lines, functional yet immensely satisfying. (So is a Porsche, of course.) At a time when enormous and extravagant American cars were supposed to be setting the standard for what a car should look like, the Beetle arrived and took over.

The Wassily Chair, designer Marcel Breuer.
What an odd shape for a chair. That’s not the shape anybody would draw if you asked them to draw a chair. And yet there it is, the perfect chair. I’ve seen an active two-year-old sit down in one and fall comfortably asleep in five minutes. How many of you have seen one somewhere, maybe in some swish office, and been unable to resist the temptation to sit down in it, even if no-one else is sitting down, even if it looks as if it’s only there for decoration. It begs to be sat in, and once you’re there, you’re in no hurry to get up again. And the design? Clean, smooth lines, functional, memorable … (are we boring you?)

The iMac, designer Jonathan Ive.

Well, yes. There was a trend-setter for you. After the iMac came a whole range of copy-cats, see-through calculators, telephones, etc. BUT THEY DIDN’T HAVE THE LINES!! They didn’t have what it takes. They came and went but the iMac has its place in history.

London Underground Map, designer Harry Beck
And finally (we could go on, but we won’t. Not today, anyway) the London Underground Map. The Underground Map?? Well, yes. Look at it. Revolutionary in its time, so much so that at first it was rejected outright. But the trend-setter. The Design Standard. Think of other underground maps you’ve seen, from other cities, other countries. What do they look like? Well, they look pretty similar to the London underground map (designed in 1931 by Harry Beck, who was actually an employee of the Underground system.) We won’t point out the clean smooth functional lines, the fact that it works … We might mention that although it purported to be a map, it took no account of real distances or locations, since Beck quite rightly felt that people using the Tube, underground and in the dark, neither knew nor cared exactly where they were, they just wanted to know how to get from A to B. And that is exactly what the map tells you.

Oh and don't forget to check out imprentapronto.com for more design classics!

Keep creative,

Ros