This is a high chair designed by Behar I thought it would be a nice way to end the class considering it was high chairs we discussed on the first day. Thoughts?
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Design Stars
Yves Behar is not italian, nor is he Italian educated and this notion of things being part of a disappearing italian brand seems very strange and a little bit ridiculous! As the article describes it, an italian designer is just someone who takes time and care in the design process and works closely with industry. Behar is unquestionably a good designer, but he isn't unique. There are plenty of good designer that have the "italian" qualities describes in the article. Naoto Fukasawa, Marc Newson, and the design firm IDEO all espouse these qualities. I think that this article is so obviously biased towards Behar that I find it difficult to take seriously. The idealization of certain 'star' designers and architects, and schools is a problem that we have discussed a bit in class and I think that this article is one of many that are responsible for this kind of issue.
This is a high chair designed by Behar I thought it would be a nice way to end the class considering it was high chairs we discussed on the first day. Thoughts?
This is a high chair designed by Behar I thought it would be a nice way to end the class considering it was high chairs we discussed on the first day. Thoughts?
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I wouldn't want that high chair in my house... it makes me think of a spaced out gramophone hybridized with a turkey baster... It also seems like a raucous baby would be able to tip it over, unless the base was super heavy. Some of the best designed things I've seen for kids are made by parents who never worked as a designer before, but had a need that they couldn't fill with the stuff out there. The idea of putting a designer up on a pedestal seems as ridiculous to me as idolizing any kind of celebrity. I value a good design when I come across one, but couldn't care less about the name on the label.
ReplyDeleteWhy does art history always seem to fall back on "great names?" Why can't we talk about the work without being influenced by the maker?
I posted yesterday about the Y-Waterbottle, which I related to the playful quality of the Eameses, but I also think some of Behar's work is just superfluous.
ReplyDeleteI like Behar's Y-waterbottle, because the form of it changes the experience of an activity. I like Behar's work on the $100 laptop, because it offers education to children who would have never had the opportunity to receive it.
Then there's this high chair. How does this help save the world/be sustainable/save babies? This seems like a regular chair rendered in the Behar "anything is possible" style, but lacks a change in experience.
Well, Yves Behar might be a genius designer, but he still owns a studio, and he's not the only one in it. Nowadays we find everything and anything can be branded by a personal style, and I think this branding taps into the pathos (and ethos) in us. We swear by things without consciously understanding what it is that we want, and if you think I'm wrong, today we have Coke vs Pepsi and Mac vs PC, despite the fact that they're really quite similar in technical and material composition.
ReplyDeleteYves Behar might be doing some great work, as Gabe mentioned, but he's also a brand (Re: Martha Stewart post). People lap that up just as much as your average person buying the new iPhone, even if they have a perfectly serviceable model. It's new, it's exciting, it's by your favourite designer! Exorbitant price tag excluding, it's a way for people to define their own lifestyle.