Ettore Sottsass, Olivetti, Thrift Stores and Me

Those who've followed BarryBlog, especially through the three years of rather regular postings from Fall 2006 until Winter 2008, know that I have a rather informed design eye, combined with a consistent thrift store routine, which gives me a great deal of opportunities to find important design items at thrift store prices. As an example, one afternoon I came across a rare Olivetti Praxis 48 typewriter by famed designer, artist and architect Ettore Sottsass. Just to rub it in for my fellow thriftsters, it was $4.99. It just so happens that Sottsass is one of my long-time favorite designers, since I cut my design teeth in the late 80's, right about the time Sottsass founded The Memphis Design Movement. During this formative time in my young design career, Memphis was at full stride and had influenced the design thinking of Mark Johnson and Lauren Ciesa at JCI (JohnsonCiesa) – the design firm where I worked at in East Lansing Michigan. During this time, the bold, whimsical colors and shapes where a complete departure from the bland work being done in Corporate America, where the archetypal color combination was burgundy and grey. Lauren always sprung for great office lighting, modern decorative arts and high end furniture, and that passion for well design items made a lasting impression.

Though Sottsass’s iconic Valentine typewriter has eluded me, I do have a couple other fine examples of his work in the form of the Olivetti Lettera 36; Olivetti Lettera 32; and Olivetti/Underwood 319. The Praxis 48 is among my most prized items in my growing collection of important design. I keep hoping I will come across a piece of his incredible pottery, but that would surprise me considering they routinely go for $5,000 on up.

So this afternoon, savoring a newly sore throat and achy body, I came across this great Sottsass film by his last collaborator, Enesco Corporation. Ettore’s design fire was not extinguished until his death at the ripe old age of 90.

If you have any stories of Sottsass, or have any of his design work in your collection, do share it here.

I am not certain if these last two recent posts are a sign of things to come, but for some reason I am feeling the desire to contribute, and realize how I still have plenty to add to the conversation. We’ll see.

Seperated At Birth? Dieter Rams and Apple’s Ive

Nearly every designer knows the name Jonathan Ives of Apple, Inc. But how many know the name Dieter Rams? Thanks to Onur at the great blog tuning slide, I’ve been newly introduced to this great talent.

I’d always heard that Jonathan Ives and his design tendency at Apple to "eliminate the unnecessary" was in some ways influenced by the design created in the mid-1960's at the German manufacturer BRAUN, but never new the face behind it all–Dieter Rams. It's really remarkable to see the similarities between Dieter’s work back then and the iconic Apple approach now. See here and here for two great examples.

I’ve been influenced by a great many people in my career as well. While I’ve never worked for a well known design company, I have worked with some incredible talents and have followed the work of many designers through the years. So I guess it should come as no big surprise that Jonathan Ives has been influenced by others as well. In discovering the similarity in design approach between Dieter and Ives, I find it quite exciting to look back nearly fifty years to shed some light on what was being considered back then in terms of design. In my research I found a quote from Dieter describing what was different back then. It really hit home for me. He stated...

At Braun they were always willing to take a risk - nobody could tell you if a product would become successful. We as designers cannot work in a vacuum. The entrepreneur has to want it; the people at the top of the company have to want it…What’s missing today is that these kind of entrepreneurs are no longer there. Today there is only Apple and to a lesser extent Sony, but not to the same degree as was the case with Olivetti and BRAUN, or Peter Behrens at AEG, or Herman Miller and Charles Eames, Florence Knoll with Saarinen and so on. These kinds of connections are missing today

Apparently I’m a bit late in the game here, and a lot of blogs have already discussed this very comparison between BRAUN and Apple design before. If you find this as interesting as I do, here are a couple more resources.

designboom’s take on the subject
37signals take
DesignMuseum article
The complete tuning slide post
Erik Spiekermann on the BRAUN Apple
37signals post on Ives

One more thing... Here's another forward thinking quote from the 1960’s by Dieter Rams...

Good design is innovative. Good design makes a product useful. Good design is aesthetic. Good design helps us to understand a product. Good design is unobtrusive. Good design is honest. Good design is durable. Good design is consequent to the last detail. Good design is concerned with the environment. Good design is as little design as possible. Back to purity, back to simplicity.

Who was forward thinking enough over 40 years ago to suggest a concern for the environment? Wow.