There was an interesting interview in The Japan Times today about British deisgner Sir Terence Conran, the man behind the Nissan Cube. He has an interesting take on design:
"My definition of intelligent design is 98 percent common sense and 2 percent aesthetics.You can design something that works very well and is perfectly good. That glass [he picks up a drinking glass from a table], for instance: Perfectly nice glass, nothing wrong with it, works well, cheaply produced. But it doesn't give you that extra 2 percent. It hasn't got that magic ingredient in it that makes you say, "Ah, that is a very beautiful glass."
A really good designer would be able to take this glass and make something about it that makes you say, "Ah, that's a really lovely glass." Do you see? I mean, a small twist that just can take a perfectly ordinary object that's full of common sense and just make it special."
He also has a store in the Marunouchi Building near Tokyo station, of which most items are out of my price range.
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