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Jan.9, 2005 -Jan.16, 2005 |
Brave new buildings and products
The year 2004 had its share of noteworthy designs in all sectors of the consumer market
By Mark Curtis
Originally Published: 2005-01-02
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Mini ipod
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Design consciousness among consumers is allowed to grow when we are presented with industrial designs that make us execute the proverbial double-take. There were at least two examples of such startling designs in 2004 that, although they debuted in previous years, seemed to really catch our attention this year.
The first such design was Apple's now-ubiquitous iPod MP3 player, which offers the contradiction of the latest in musical playback (and photo display) in the most clean-lined of packages. Apple's reputation for innovation and its marketing machine had a lot to do with iPod's bold arrival on the industrial design landscape, but the digital music player speaks volumes about the effectiveness of a product design that is direct and easy to understand (much like the original Macintosh). A second industrial design that really seemed to make its presence felt this year was Honda's compact sport utility vehicle, the Element. Like it or loathe it, there's little else like it on the road. Conceived as a helmet on wheels and a salute to the functionality of a UPS truck, the Honda Element is an outstanding industrial design example of thinking outside the box.
Canadian admirers of classic Italian vehicles had much to celebrate in 2004. After an 18 year absence from domestic roads, the classic Vespa scooter by Pontedera's Piaggio returned to Canada under a new distribution deal. One of the Italian manufacturer's latest models is the Granturismo, a four-stroke, four-valve 200 cc engined beauty that does justice to the Vespa's iconic status in the past half century of Italian design. At the higher end of the price scale, Toronto car dealer Remo Ferri opened his second local Maserati and Ferrari showroom in 2004 and luxury car shoppers were soon introduced to the Maserati Quattroporte, a new model designed by the legendary Pininfarina brand. Equally legendary car designer Giorgetto Giugiaro branched out into office chair design and his almost wholly-recyclable Contessa mesh chair earned gold awards from both the Chicago NeoCon trade fair and an annual design review by Business Week magazine. The Contessa is distributed in North America by Toronto's Teknion, which deserves a tip of the hat for taking a lead in sustainable design production and overall environmentally friendly practices.
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