Blog designophile
By Michael DiTullo - December 3, 2011
A few weeks ago swissnex San Francisco hosted an SFMOMA Architecture and Design Forum panel discussion on the topic of Dieter Rams and the effect of Modernism on today's design landscape. Panelists included Yves Behar of Fuse Project, Cathy Baily of Heath Ceramics, Markus Diebel of InCase, and myself, Michael DiTullo of frog. The event was moderated by SFMOMA Architecture and Design curator Joseph Becker. We recieved some fantastic questions from the audience as well as from Joseph, including inquiries on the "tyranny of good design", what the shape of the designer of the future will be, and the impact of smart products on industrial design. I think you will enjoy the video below documented by Fora TV. You can jump to individual clips of specific questions on their site here.
swissnex: Around Dieter Rams from swissnex San Francisco on FORA.tv
Blog designophile
By Michael DiTullo - October 23, 2011
Last week I was down in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, to speak at the Design Addict Congress, a series of lectures and workshops focused on industrial design at the The Tecnológico de Monterrey’s SLP campus. In attendence were over 300 designers and design students from all over Mexico. The Tecnológico de Monterrey was founded in 1943 by Eugenio Garza Sada. Along with a group of Mexican businessmen, Sada envisioned a cutting-edge educational institution for Mexico. Today the Tecnológico has more than 30 campuses throughout Mexico and nearly 50,000 undergraduate students.
At this year's Design Addict Congress, speakers were invited to give a lecture to the entire audience, as well as a workshop to smaller groups. Speakers included Karim Rashid, Don Lehman of More/Real, Matali Crasset, Alberto Villarreal, Antonio Aguilar of Electrolux, and myself, Michael DiTullo from frog. The San Luis Potosi campus has one of the younger design programs in the Tecnológico system of schools, and in my experience those younger design programs tend to be a little more open, hungrier for reality, and full of eager students. That was certainly the case here. Everywhere we went we encountered eager, bright, and very passionate design students.
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.
