Ever since supermarkets started filling their shelves with Christmas foodstuffs in September, view-on-demand has allowed us to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" when we choose rather than when the schedulers dictate and global warming robbed Europe of all its snow, it has become increasingly difficult to judge just when Christmas is due. Is it next week? Or do I have time before I start panicking about buying presents? Is that man dressed as Santa celebrating Halloween? Or is not a man dressed as
read moreTime was when there was nothing nobler than a Christmas market. And no finer way to wile away the adventtide than with a glass of Glühwein and possibly a bag of chestnuts roasted by an honest, if somewhat overly familiar, urchin, while strolling through a festive bazaar. Time was. Time, however, is. And as the number, and for all the variety, of Christmas markets grows, so does the quality decline. Consequently, as we approach an age when no one will ever again be able to enjoy the physical
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One of the biggest challenges facing product designers in coming years will undoubtedly be the question of planned obsolescence. For while we genuinely believe that the majority of designers understand their responsibilities in terms of sustainability and resources, we also know that most designers understand their responsibilities to help their clients generate profit. Finding the correct balance wont be easy. But it must be found. Perhaps the most distressing example of planned
read moreAfter long, sober, consideration we have decided to end the "Christmas is coming.... " project. Simply put, in the wake of last years "Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat… if Verner Panton had ever visited us, that is where he would have sat" we couldn't see where to take the concept. We had reached a creative zenith. Mount Olympus was behind us, a distant speck on a snowy, cloudy horizon and ahead a sorry, meaningless, desert of repetition, emotional contortion and former East
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