Philippe Starck

Philippe Starck has said that he can design a chair in two minutes and a hotel in a day and a half. He prefers to work alone, sometimes “naked in the bedroom,” the Frenchman has invented thousands of products, interiors, and buildings for clients ranging from Microsoft to Baccarat.

In the begining he stopped studying architecture to work for fashion designer Pierre Cardin. In the Beginning of the 80s he achieved wide publis approval by designing furniture for president Mitterrand's private suite. in the Elysee Palace. He designed furniture for furniture companies such as DRIADE and a set of shelves for the company Disform. His designs show strong bio morphism - A surrealist art movement of the twentieth century that focuses on the power of natural life and uses organic shapes, with shapeless and vaguely spherical hints of the forms of biology, which influenced a lot of designers in the late 80s.

Philippe claims that he can design chairs in less then 15 minutes, which means that obviously he is supported by a strong back up team. He designed toothbrushes, pasta and a lemon squeezer which is quite famous and was in the homes of the early 90s chic.

The Lemon squeezer was quite an interesting design, also unique and how he came up with the idea is way more interesting. He was having lunch and ordered calamari and noticed that he didn't have a lemon so he asked the waiter for one. While squeezing the lemon Starcks came up with this grand idea-design and started drawing it on a napkin which he had infront of him.

Today the napkin is held in a museum and the squeezer made a great hit. He designer this for Alessi and this was not only his famous design but another which I do like is the Ghost chair. I couldn't help but realise while walking in Victoria Gozo to go have some coffee that a Cafeteria - Kozmo has Starck's look alike chairs inside and out and so I went to try them out I was so tempted that I had to see if they were comfortable. Here are the pictures below.

First Design of the Ghost chair:

The chairs I found at the cafe:

His first design was clear plastic but had no colour, these days they do them in any colour possible and they still do sell them or similar designs as you can see.


Fiell, C & P F, 1999. design of the 20th century. 2nd ed. china: ISBN.
Thames & Hudson, T&H, 2004. design since 1900. 2nd ed. singapore: C.C Graphics.

Design

Design for safety

Awareness which started in the 60s with the publication of the book:
“Unsafe at any speed: the designed- in dangers of the American auto mobile” by Ralph Nader 1965

The development of products making them safer to use.
The design of safety equipment such as:

• Fire extinguishers
• seat belts
• air bags
• smoke alarms.

These are manufactured according to guidelines and standards set by a specialized committee and there standards are included in legislations which govern product design and manufacture. In the toy industry products which comply with the European directives bear the mark CE this enables the products to be exported and imported in the member countries. 

Design for sport

Design for sport involves pushing materials and technologies to their limits. Sport equipment relies on research and development and designs are usually made with the latest computer technologies and in accordance with ergonomic data.
• Designs to improve performance – helmets biker safety and etc
• lightweight materials
• carbon fiber  (helmets)


Design for the third world

The aim to empower developing nations to meet their own needs making economic and environmental sense.

• Wobo (world bottle) 1960

• Pedal powered washing machines
• Motivation wheel chair design for landmine victims making used of locally available components
• The hippo

• The sierra portable light mat from portable light team. This has flexible solar cells from people around the world for people who don’t have power.

Design for children

• Miniaturization
• reduction of scale results in less weight
• Less material
• Cheaper to manufacture
• Generates less waste


All notes were taking during class.

Sustainable Design

Sustainable design describes a design philosophy that values the natural environment as an integral factor in creating new products or modifying old ones.Sustainable designs try to maximize overall efficiency with surrounding resources, such as transportation such as well as energy efficiency, habitat preservation and restoration, natural and renewable energy sources, water conservation, recycled, local and non – toxic materials, and healthy and productive interiors.

Learning about green buildings; environmentally friendly and cradle-to- cradle design; when designing you’re already thinking of how it can be reborn again.

Planned obsolescence; how long the product is going to stay good and how much it will be used. It’s based on the concept of intentionally limiting the life of products so that the consumers are manipulated into consuming more.

The conflicting views:

1. Keeps workers/designers in employment and helps the economy

2. Waste is created by the premature replacement of the commodities

For example batteries, unless they are un rechargeable they’re useless. They’re also things you’d buy while knowing you’d be throwing it away for example Gillette razors and Make up refills instead of buying the whole products again.

Planned obsolescence can arise from:

1. Change in appearance/style: cookers from others and microwaves

2. Change in technology: from Samsung s4 to Samsung s5

Cradle to cradle:

It’s a method to minimize the environmental impact of products by employing sustainable production operation and disposable practice and aims to incorporate social responsibility into product development

Under the cradle to cradle philosophy products are evaluated for sustainability and efficiency in manufacturing processes material properties and toxicity as well as potential to reuse materials through recycling or composting.

Notes were taken in class.

The Memphis Group

The Memphis group was a group of Italian designers and architects who created a series of highly influential products in the 1980's. it was founded in Milan and their aim was to refresh, strengthen the radical design and to design a new creative approach to design. The leader of the group was Ettore Sottsass and the name Memphis came from the song Memphis blues which belonged to Bob Dylan. While listening to music with his ‘group’ at his house planning about their new group Ettore came up with the idea to name it Memphis. The Memphis groups designers were Ettore Sottsass, Michele De Lucchi, Maro Zanini, Mateo Thun, Nathalie de Pasquier and George Sowden. 

They made beautiful and bizarre designs, with bright vibrant colours, textures, use of different materials, well several materials in one most often and the intentionally mocked the presentations of good design.

Martine Bedine, Super Lamp for Memphis

They convinced Abet to make new laminates printed with extraordinary vibrant patterns inspired by pop art, op art and electronic imagery.

Ernesto Gismondi became the head of the group later on and on the 18th of September 1981 the group showed their work for the first time. All designs were designed by an international group of architects and designers inclugin Hans Hollein, Shiro Kuramata, Peter Shire, Javier Mariscal, Massanori Umeda and Michael Graves. The group always agreed, accepted the Memphis was a trend/phase tied to the briefness of fashion and in 1988 when its popularity started to decrease Sottsass separated it. Although Memphis was a short lived phase its youthful vitality and humor was central to the internationalization of post modernism.

Through my research I've found a fashion show Dior made with inspiration from the Memphis Group's designs.

mirror 80. 2011. Memphis Design Meets Haute Couture: Christian Dior’s Fall-Winter Collection. [ONLINE] Available at: http://mirror80.com/2011/07/memphis-design-meets-haute-couture-christian-diors-fall-and-winter-collection/. [Accessed 08 February 14].

juilies juice. 2011. memphis dior. [ONLINE] Available at: http://juliesjuice.wordpress.com/category/memphis-design/. [Accessed 08 February 14].

Thames & Hudson, T&H, 2004. design since 1900. 2nd ed. singapore: C.C Graphics.

Post Modern Design

Pop modern design is possibly one of the most scandalous and notorious movements in design. Architects and designers argued that modern architecture was basically meaningless. Post modernists were bored with all the inspiration from science and universal truths from the modernists. Modernists believed that less was more but for the post modernists less was a bore. Post modernists believed that we needed as many references as possible to find out individual subjective conclusions. They believed in collage, anarchy, repetition these were extremely interesting. The post modernist designers wanted to challenge the audiences and force them to ask questions. Buildings now became fancier and more interesting also nice to look at such as the buildings in Vegas which have different styles, cultures and playful collages.

Critics disapproved unnecessary ornamentation and obsessive tendency to recycle the past to make something new and regularly plain silliness. Mass media helped post modernism grow, the world related together like never before. Post modernism was liberating, designers did what they wanted and what felt right for them and didn’t go for ‘rules’ like other movements had. Their designs were often funny, sometimes confrontational and occasionally absurd. They had bright colour, theatricality and exaggeration: everything was a style statement. Whether surfaces were glossy, faked or purposely distressed, they showed the desire to combine rebellious statements with money making appeal. Designs didn't have much functionality other than decoration.

Roland Barthes believed that if objects and buildings were full of symbolism viewers and consumers will relate to them more. Music and magazines were the most important delivery system for this new period.

Post modernism divided the line between day wear and evening wear, formal and casual fusing them in a single style it even merged fine arts and mass culture too. Architect Michael Graves and others presented a new artistic, appealing visual in architecture by the mid-1970s.

Michaels building is known for its small square windows, exaggerated historical motifs, playful, different materials, tacky loud colors, and, of course it’s the larger-than-life statue over the building’s front door.

It was like you were grabbing a functional object and just adding decorations on it to make it look different, ‘prettier’ and nice, link in the pictures below.

Michael Graves Tea and Coffee Piazzo for Alessi

Proust, Alessandro Mendini

Anna g corkscrew, Alessi and Alessandro Mendini

a/n blog. 2014. MICHAEL GRAVES’ PORTLAND BUILDING COULD BE IN JEOPARDY. [ONLINE] Available at: http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/archives/77982#more-77982. [Accessed 06 January 14].

v&a. 2012. postmodernism. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/p/postmodernism/. [Accessed 06 January 14].

youtube. (2013). Postmodernism: Design in a Nutshell (6/6). [Online Video]. 08 May. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKomOqYU4Mw. [Accessed: 06 February 2014].

High Tech

High tech first began in architecture in the mid-1960s. Its designs were inspired by geometric formalism of classical modernism and the radical design requests of Buckminster Fuller. It was founded by architects; Norman Foster, Richard Rogers and Michael Hopkins who combined simple industrial elements in their buildings, the high tech design ended up into the majority of interior design during the 70s. Things such as trolleys, rubber flooring, clip-on lighting, galvanized zinc shelving and scaffolding were used in high tech interiors which frequently had primary colour schemes to praise the de stijl.

Pompidou Centre, Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers 1977

Glass walls and steel structures were extremely popular. Open spaces were dominating in the interiors, as well as drive to keep the optimal order and functionality. Furniture had simple and geometrical shapes.

Fiell, C & P F, 1999. design of the 20th century. 2nd ed. china: ISBN.

Thames & Hudson, T&H, 2004. design since 1900. 2nd ed. singapore: C.C Graphics.

richardrogers. 2014. Centre Pompidou. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.richardrogers.co.uk/work/buildings/centre_pompidou/completed. [Accessed 04 January 14].

Space Age

The space age began during pop design. It all started when President JF Kennedy announced before a special joint session of Congress the dramatic and ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before the end of the decade. There was great competition between Russia and America to see who’d make it to the moon first. During my research and reading about the competition there was between the Russians and Americans I remembered that in the movie Rocky 4 they showed how big and important it was for them to compete with the Russians the Americans – Apollo Creed, made a huge spectacular entrance which amazed the Russian boxer Drago. When the second fight was held in Russia they also did another important entrance but not as spectacular as the Americans it was strict and ‘war’ like but when the fight ended and Rocky won he did a small speech telling everyone that if he could change then everyone could. This meant that all this competition was for nothing and because of the cold war too. I was surprised how a boxing movie involved the competition there was between Americans and Russians.

Speech clip- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRBak_2X3Do

Anyhow back to Space age this inspired designer’s especially fashion designers. Clothing was now made from pvc and silver and white fabric. Fashion looked futuristic and something which they’ve never had before it gave women a completely new look/style.

Andre’ Courreges designed for vogue and which included high skirts and dresses with geometric patterns and cut-outs, space-like helmets, and mid-shin and PVC boots, inspired by NASA he used colours like silver and white. His first thrust was to introduce tunic pantsuits at a time when women weren’t admitted into many restaurants in trousers. He also designed alien like sunglasses which looked very futuristic and unique, his collection was called Moon Girl.

Futuristic forms were featured in everything from television sets, textiles, lighting and kettles. Edward Craven Walker designed the first lava lamps during the space age and we still have them produced to this day. It’s interesting how things which were designed YEARS ago are still as interesting and ‘wanted’ as much as they were during that period of time.

Fashion and pop stars still do inspire themselves from space such as Lady Gaga. She brought back this weird and futuristic style back.

spyvibe. 2009. mods to moongirls. [ONLINE] Available at: http://spyvibe.blogspot.com/2009/03/mods-and-moongirls.html. [Accessed 02 January 14].

vouguepedia. 2010. space age. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.vogue.com/voguepedia/Space_Age. [Accessed 02 January 14].