Blog designophile
By Michael DiTullo - March 19, 2012
Every few weeks I get a request for information about the classic frog FZ750 concept designed by our founder Hartmut Esslinger in 1985. The frog FZ was a bit of a superstar, appearing on the cover of various magazines including Cycle World in the US and Motorad in Germany. In 1990 it appeared on the cover of Business week with Esslinger. Hartmut was the only living designer thus honored since Raymond Loewy in 1934. I always felt the frog FZ, sometimes called "The Rana", was special for a few reasons. Being designed in 1985, just three years after frog entered into its contract with Apple and opened the California studio, it was the personification of the hopes, dreams, and ambitions of frog at that time. It also influenced the generation of mortorbikes that followed. The Honda Hurricane was so influenced by the frog FZ that Honda offered one to Hartmut as a gift!
After having a prominent place in our client area for the last twenty five years, we prepared the frog FZ to enter the permant collection of the SFMOMA this month. There it will be on display as the iconic part of design history it is. As part of the restoration and preparation process, we spoke with Hartmut to document the entire story on how the FZ came to be. Read the following for the full scoop:
Blog designophile
By Michael DiTullo - August 28, 2011
Recently, Phaidon published a new monograph of Dieter Ram's work entitled "Dieter Rams, As Little Design As Possible" written by Sophie Lovell. To celebrate the launch of the book Phaidon hosted a panel discussion in their SoHo space which included Gary Hustwit, director of Objectified, Helvetica, and Urbanized; Zoe Coombes, co-founder of CMMNWLTH; and me, creative director here at frog; moderated by LinYee Yuan, editor of core77.com.
One of the discussion topics that stuck with me is the perception by some that Ram's products and other Modernist products are cold or anonymous. While it can be said that the work may be devoid of its own personality, I see this as a positive thing. It is because of theses devices' intentional neutrality that the personality of the user—rather than the personality of the designer or the whim of a particular fashion trend—overlays the object. The user's personality is imbued into the object over time, seemingly through some sort of osmosis. For example, my grandfather owned a Braun electric juicer designed by Rams. Over the course of many breakfasts, I observed my grandfather making orange juice for our family with that little appliance. It somehow became his juicer and I still think of my grandfather when I see it. When he passed away a little over a decade ago, we began the daunting task of going through his things, and I came across his juicer. This little white appliance evoked so many memories of my grandfather. It had taken on his personality. While Ram's objects may lack sentimentality, they can become the intense focus of it in a very powerful and personal way.
