A few years ago the (smow) blog telephone rang..... "Good morning is it possible to speak to Philippe Starck please?" enquired the caller. "I'm sorry he's not here at the moment" we replied, truthfully, if not altogether helpfully. "When will it be possible?" came the inevitable follow-up. "We're not really sure, he's not here in Leipzig that often", we responded, truthfully if, again, not altogether helpfully, "you're probably better phoning the Paris office they tend to be better
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One of the classic rules of furniture design is the product must look good, must look appealing. What, however, if you can't see the product. If it doesn't have a visual presence. That would make no sense. Which is probably why it took Philippe Starck to come up with the "Ghost" range of chairs and stools for Kartell. Very few other designers could create a range of chairs that regularly vanish in the light. Starck's motivation was of course somewhat different. With his Louis Ghost,
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Our (smow)twitter recently brought our attention to an article at worldchanging.com about what the author termed "Heirloom Design" In the article Adele Peters discusses sustainability, durability and for all "What makes something worthy of passing down through generations?" Peters decides that the future monetary value, the usefulness and sentimentality play a role; somewhat bizarrely in respect of sentimentality , she states: "...designers can aim to create products that inspire emotional
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