Once upon a time [1989] in a land far, far away [Italy], Alessi approached Philippe Starck to come up with an

idea to for a stainless steel tray…

No problem.

Make a steel tray.

This octopus salad is delicious!

I feel my creative juices flowing.

SA

LIF

JUIC

Y

Dude! What was Philippe Starck thinking of?

That he’s god….?

Once upon a time [2003] in a land far, far away [the Netherlands], two Assistant Professors at the TU Delft

came up with an idea…

this list is very long…

You can contact him, AND add him to your network

113 contacts! That means he’s popular!

Dirk is legit. He has a Linkedin page.

…he has a PhD

there are a lot more when you scroll down…

He has a lot of interests, which means that someday he’ll write a book…

So is Peter. You can’t connect to him though.

they looked at the design

CAST aluminum 14cm FORMAL QUALITIES diameter 29cm HEIGHT UPWARD facing teardrop body three legs rubber feet insert at the

bottom of EACH LEG

and thought about:

THE OMNIPOTENT DESIGNER

.…MYTH? Many study the connections between what designers think and what they do. There is a tendency of designers to describe […] the creative steps they have taken,

their ideas about form, the constraints under which they have operated and their methods of working. It’s the genius narrative...a gift from God.

THE in

spiratio

n om

nip

oten

t

1950s: saw his father’s drawing board of aircraft designs

1960s: liked modern things: flight, space crafts, Sci-Fi movies: Forbidden

Planet and Godzilla, fascinated with comics, draws alien cartoons

PERSONAL HISTORY

no design works unless it embodies ideas that are held in common by the people for whom the object is intended. —Adrian Forty

“

“

EVERYONE’S 1) Cast, implying a strong product and reference to industrial revolution.

2) Old-style rockets, like those of

Soviet inventors.

3) Used aluminum, reference to a nostalgic future, modern metal

associated with streamlining …social and technological progress.

4) The exaggerated legs a

reminder of can-can images from the Follies Bergere, and Vargas’ women.

HISTORY CULTURAL / IDEOLOGICAL

…but the juicer , with many complaints that it didn’t actually juice

lemons properly. Starck insists that his design is more about the conversation that is sparked, and that is the true purpose of his juicer…

FAILED

Dirk?

Yes, Peter?

Can you imagine our editor’s face if we gave him a thesis unrelated to the original proposal that didn’t

work?

He would laugh.

something to think about.

Cindy, I absolutely love your juice maker. Thanks Barbara, we got it in Italy

when Jeff traveled there for work and

I got to go with him first class. It was the most

amazing experience of my

life. Why don’t you go to Italy?

I hate her.

the

desig

ner

IMPO

TEN

T

consumers choose a product with the abstract aim of that product fitting their way of living (Fish), or goals in life (Scruton)…this abstract aim cannot be given in advance since the product initiates the process of realizing those aims. The success of the product, then, only comes about through the consumer’s engagement with that product.

“ “

Dirk?

Yes, Peter?

If he’s so impotent, why did we use his name 27 times in 17

pages?

…

something to think about.

haha

It remains unparalleled in its ability to generate discussions about its meaning and design, partly because of its unconventional use of what semiologists refer to as the decorative veil…there is always a certain degree of freedom in interpreting relationships between Form and Function: it is precisely this continual play between Form and Function that leads to the decorative veil mentioned above. As well as being the most controversial citrus fruit squeezer of the 20th century, it has also become one of the icons of design of the 1990s, and it continues to be one of the most provocatively intelligent articles in the Alessi catalogue.

— ALESSI

“ “

FUNCTION The function of the design. Does it work? Is it practical, functional and labour saving? SENSORIALITY, MEMORY, IMAGINATION Does the design please the senses? Is it memorable? Does it engender emotion? COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE Will the product give its owner status? Does it fit with current trends? PRICE Can the product be made and sold at a sensible price, both relative to substitute products and to the customer’s sense of its value?

ASSESSM

EN

T C

RIT

ERIA

FO

RM

ULA

A

LESSI

According to Alessi, Starck succeeded.

so-far over 550,000 units sold

at $96.00 a pop

= $52,800,000

I win.