You loved the Eames chair because of its functional chic. Or as designer Charles Eames put it: “What works is better than what looks good.”
Today’s Timeless 50 giveway is a cool Eames-inspired lounger and stool.
Visit Timeless 50 to win.
Posts Tagged ‘classic design’
Eames-Inspiration for Timeless Giveaway
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009Angling For a New Classic Lamp?
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
The lamp strikes a timeless pose
“The Anglepoise is a bit like the Hoover or the Biro. Designed in 1933 by George Carwardine and still in production today, the lamp has had such a great impact on its industry that the term has now come to represent an entire category of design: the flexible, articulated task light.”
That’s how we described this design classic while you were still voting for the Timeless 50. The Anglepoise shot onto to the final list and today we’re giving away a stylish Anglepoise Fifty Lamp – the classic light with a modern twist.
Visit the Timeless 50 to take part.
Roberts Radio Tuned into Timelessness
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
Roberts Radio is on the right wavelength
Roberts Radio is one of the few British electronics companies to survive from the dawn of broadcasting. Founded in 1932, it sold sets through London’s top department stores, like Harrods and the Army and Navy. After the late Queen Mother bought one for the current Queen, Roberts was granted a Royal Warrant, which it still holds today.
The R250 revival range is modelled on a 1958 design, the RT1, which was Roberts’ first transistor set, allowing listeners to rotate its receiver in search of the best signal. The RT1 was discontinued as changing fashions and technology ushered in teak sets with VHF aerials, but DAB digital broadcasting allowed its classic styling to be updated for the modern era.
Its new sets come in fourteen retro shades, evoking Fifties American diners, and Ideal Home visions of the Space Age. Their leather-finished wooden cabinets are also available in special editions, including psychedelic swirls in the signature colours of Paul Smith.
Is the Roberts Radio on your Timeless 50 wavelength?
A Titan Among the Other Bright Lights
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
There’s something so enduring about classic British design pieces. They feel solid, long-lasting and trustworthy. Think of the telephone kiosk; Roberts radio; the mini; even a Cadbury’s chocolate bar, they all convey integrity. And although produced in the 90s, the Original BTC Titan ceiling light feels no different.
Created by Peter Bowles, designer and owner of Original BTC lighting and inspired by the classic 1940s shape of factory lights of that time, the piece has been an interior design favourite since it came to the market. Its charm lies in the no frills, utilitarian aesthetic. Where design has received a bad name for putting style over substance, this piece does the opposite. The fact that it looks great in a kitchen or grouped over a table is simply a by-product. Playing on these durable themes of functionality, and British manufacturing heritage, has made the Titan ceiling light an instant design classic.
Artemide’s Principal Lamp Shines On
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
Back in 1987 when the Tolomeo task lamp was first launched by Artemide it caused a sensation at the Milan Furniture Fair. Not so much in the shape, the design world was already accustomed to the form of the suspended task lamp originating all those years ago with the Anglepoise in the 30s. No Tolemo’s beauty is found in its engineering, laid bare for all to see. Exposed steel wires draw an audience in to view the fine balance and control needed to keep the lamp in position.
At the time, the designers Michele de Lucchi and Giancarlo Fassina were going against a decadent grain that was trademark of the ’80s. By contrast, their product was neat, precise and highly understated. ‘Ahead of its time’ exclaimed the jury and the Tolemeo was awarded Italy’s most prestigious design prize the Compasso d’Oro. Still today that judgement rings true.
The Eames Classic Coat Rack Has No Hang Ups
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
The Hang-It-All was produced at a time when husband and wife Charles and Ray Eames were designing toys and furniture for children. Amongst the colourful building blocks and fanciful face masks came this playful piece inspired by the formation of electrons and atoms in the molecular structure.
The design hit the market in 1953, a time of great belief in science and technology. The electron microscope exposed a new and detailed natural world and anything seemed possible and the Hang-it-all coat rack played on the scientific imagery popular at that time.
And over half a century later this unbounded belief in scientific discovery is entering the collective imagination once again. Head to the Welcome Collection to see how it continues to influence art and design. Even though today’s objects are inspired by higher resolution imaging and the capabilities of nanotechnology, the Eameses coat rack still holds its own alongside.
Who Can Hold a Candle to Diptyque?
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
Who can hold a candle to Diptyque
Originally a Paris interior design store, Diptyque was set up by three graduates of the Paris Ecole des Beaux Arts, who made the scented candle into a modern day cult classic by focusing on simple design and tantalising flavours.
Who wouldn’t want their home to smell of honeysuckle, orange and clove or even a log fire? What makes them timeless is how these candles overshadow all other scented competitors such as pot puri, which now appears terribly dated; and essential oils, which have always been viewed as rather too fiddly for mass appeal.
The Diptyque trio succeeded because they created a new dimension to the home and they did it in a fresh and inviting way. Suddenly it deserved a fragrance. If perfume can be used to enhance the individual then why can’t it also be used to improve the experience of the home?
Martini Glass – Classic With a Twist
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009Wine buffs say the shape of a glass affects the nose. Martini glasses aim to please the eye, lending olive garnishes a touch of class, not the air of a drowning cocktail snack.
Classic cocktail with a twist
Their wide-brimmed conical design has another function too: to prevent the ingredients from separating. Whether shaken or stirred, you want your vermouth to stay mixed with its vodka or gin. And since this drink is usually served without ice, the glass’s long thick stem gives you something to hold onto without heating up its contents.
The writer H.L. Mencken once called martinis “the only American invention as perfect as a sonnet.” Dorothy Parker was more blunt. “I’ll have a martini,” she said, “two at the most — after three I’m under the table, after four I’m under my host.”
We all know how James Bond likes his, but what about you? Will any other glass do the job on the Timeless 50?
Seletti Cake Stand Hits the Design Sweet Spot
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
Seletti has its cake and eats it with this classic design
Seletti is a quirky design house. Their Everyday Aesthetics range takes random disposable items, from takeaway foil trays to Tetrapak milk cartons, and casts them in white porcelain to make them reusable.
Not all their products are quite as offbeat, however. This simple two-tiered cake stand is a flashback to the days of the drawing room, and chic enough to grace the shelves of the Conran Shop. Practically, it’s also microwave and dishwasher safe, and still sufficiently hip to sell at Urban Outfitters.
Established in 1964, Seletti prides itself on “trendsetting and groundbreaking ideas, products, solutions and provocations.” The company boasts that its products “enter the homes of any consumers with fine taste, who like creating fun and personal life spaces.”
But does the Seletti Cake Stand warrant a vote for the Timeless 50?
Kivi Candleholder Carries the Timeless Torch
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
Come on Kivi light my fire
The original tea light holder was first produced by Finnish glassware company Iittala in the 1980s.
Heikki Orvola, who created the design in 1988, said: “When I got the commission, I knew what they wanted from me: a Scandinavian glass candleholder. I gave it some thought and then that ‘blunt piece of tubing’ began to take shape in my mind. When I sketched the shape, I thought, that’s it right there – the only right solution.”
The colours and thickness of the glass enriches the glow as it multiplies the flickers of the flame. Heikki Orvola has received awards and prizes, including the Kaj Franck prize in 1998 – perhaps Finland’s most important design prize. One review calls the Kivi candleholder ‘synonymous with impeccable Finnish design’, noting it is ‘timeless, practical and of unsurpassed quality’.
Stock up before Christmas or simply vote this classic piece of design onto your Timeless 50?