Renowned French designer Philippe Starck says he is fed up with his job and plans to retire in two years, in an interview published in a German weekly on Thursday.
“I was a producer of materiality and I am ashamed of this fact,” Starck told Die Zeit weekly newspaper.
“Everything I designed was unnecessary.”
“I will definitely give up in two years’ time. I want to do something else, but I don’t know what yet. I want to find a new way of expressing myself …design is a dreadful form of expression.”
Starck, who is known for his interior design of hotels and Eurostar trains and mass consumption objects ranging from chairs to tooth brushes and lemon juice squeezers, went on to say that he believed that design on the whole was dead.
“In future there will be no more designers. The designers of the future will be the personal coach, the gym trainer, the diet consultant,” he said.
Starck said the only objects that he still felt attached to were “a pillow perhaps and a good mattress.” But the thing one needs most, he added, was the “ability to love”.
Italian motorsport safety wear giant Dianese, debuted it’s airbag system (D-air) for motorcycle riders at the Valencia Grand Prix.
The system uses an array of sensors in the suit to differentiate between normal movements on the bike and those particular to an impending crash. When deployed, the airbags protect the rider’s neck. While the system is still in development for commercial use, Dianese hopes to have the system available to all riders in the not to distant future.
We mentioned the concept auto design site ‘Concept Salad’ below. Concept Motors takes the idea of concept design one step further and into a world all of its own.
Daniel Simon has produced a book of stunning visuals and sketch work that is well worth checking out. Based on a fictitious company called ‘Cosmic Motors’ the book goes through the history of the various modes they produced over time, both as sketches and mind blowing 3D images.
It seems it’s just not Japanese animators that have an obsession with robots…
Around the world more research dollars are being invested into the world of robotics than ever before, in an attempt to find ways to improve the human work condition by removing them from hazardous or menial work environments.
This video by Boston Dynamics shows us just how far attempts are coming. The motion stability displayed by the ‘Big Dog’ is truly astounding.
OK this a great piece of design, no doubt about it. Clever, well thought out, it ticks all the boxes in terms of a possible design brief. But really, this much thought to design and make a weapon you can conceal easier than a handgun? That’s just wrong.
Think about it, the military, police or security fields prefer to SHOW their weapons, seeing one is a deterrent in itself, right?
So it would seem the whole point of this concept is to deliver to the consumer market. I mean, go for a walk or taking out the garbage and get down to business if things go bad? What sort of place are you living in? And if you are living in such a place, then surely slinging an AK off your shoulder is probably a better option than having to pull your SMG out of your back pocket and unfold it, no?
