Design Icons - what is your favourite?

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Originally posted by Reginald Halliday:
Dan Brown's name has been mentioned.....

If it is in the Windsor Codex I think it could have been HM herself with a box of crayons?

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Originally posted by erik scothron:

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Originally posted by Beano:
The Red Telephone Box; old Post boxes, especially those built into walls. The oldest which I've found so far is Queen Victoria's reign!

Aston Martin DB5; Electronic calculator; A good old Cup of Tea, is this an Icon?

Beano

Is there a VR wall post box in Bardsea Paul? I think the AM DB5 cost more to make than its retail price if I remember correctly? Maybe a tea bag is a design icon?

I seem to remember that there is a VR box in Bardsea, I'm a bit anoraky as I always check out the era of such things The DB5 is a boy hood thing.

Paul

The Citroën DS has got to be an Icon surely? I’ll nominate Snowdrops as well because they tell us summer is coming, plus I’ve dug a load up today in the garden!

Beano

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Originally posted by Beano:
[QUOTE]

I seem to remember that there is a VR box in Bardsea, I'm a bit anoraky as I always check out the era of such things The DB5 is a boy hood thing.

Paul

Yep, I seem to remember one too but might be wrong. The original pillar box was designed by Anthony Trollope the novelist if I remember correctly. The DB5 is a thing of rare beauty in my view and given some serious dosh I would be tempted to have one. (with injector seat for SWMBO)

A design icon of the future is surely the Miss K table Lamp:

The Gem clip.

Ah yes, the humble paper clip. The Norwegians always claim it to be their greatest invention but their claim is hotly contested. The British may well have got there first.

What about Concorde? Function dictating form-but you suspect that it did not actually have to be that beautiful.

I'll also nominate the Lotus Seven, a design that after almost 50 years of development still has a simple 'rightness' about it, both aesthetically and in use. A version I think still holds the record for the fastest 0-100-0mph yet the original model was powered by just 28bhp.

Bruce

Like it or lump it, this product spurned the 'blue plastic' revolution.

I would agree that the greatest designs are always simple in appearance.



I have one of these as well.

Erik

Interesting question . .

Personally I think the E-type jag is a ghastly mess; baffles me as to why so many love it. Surely the innovative and mould breaking Citroen DS is more worthy of the title 'design icon'.

I'd suggest it's important to differentiate between design and ornamentation e.g. a gold plated bicycle - dreadful from a design point of view but great for marketing and publicity!

My vote for design classic . . . the new flat panel iMacs - beautiful, practical and functional.

If we are considering beautiful design in watches though my vote would go for a Blancpain Villeret Minute Repeater Platinum; understated elegance in a world of bling.



Doug

quote:

Originally posted by Bruce Woodhouse:

I'll also nominate the Lotus Seven, a design that after almost 50 years of development still has a simple 'rightness' about it, both aesthetically and in use. A version I think still holds the record for the fastest 0-100-0mph yet the original model was powered by just 28bhp.

Bruce

I want one of those, I need to convince my wife she does too!

Beano

Doug,

Yes, simple and elegant is a good way to go. I used to have one of these but hard times forced its sale. It was very smart with dinner jacket and black tie.

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Originally posted by Beano:
[QUOTE]



I want one of those, I need to convince my wife she does too!

Beano

Just keep whispering into her ear while she is asleep. It works.

This one:




Mini Morris:





Omega Speedmaster:





The iPod:

Robert Welch Lumitron lamp - used to have some but the missus hates them, so they are now in the parents' loft.

Damn I want one. Let me have them!

Erik,

You're quite right, Breguet make the finest watches in the world. Nearly all the people on this forum are peasants and wouldn't have a clue.

Christian,

The Mini you submitted as an example was very poor. The wheel arches were a non original part, the two tone paintwork was only available on the cooper/s and it's an Austin.

Second to Mark's legs, I would nominate the Anglepoise lamp. I bought my special edition one a couple of months ago and I like better every week.

The retractable Bic M10 ?

Porsche 911.
Obvious, I know, but its been a success for best part of 30 years, still consistantly comes top in polls of boyhood dream cars, is constantly re-invented, but always instantly recogniseable.
matt

By reinvented you mean they haven't come up with anything new

Okay, so the Mini example was poor.
I was thinking about the car and it´s shapes in general.

Thanks for the input.

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Originally posted by count.d:
Erik,

[QUOTE] You're quite right, Breguet make the finest watches in the world. Nearly all the people on this forum are peasants and wouldn't have a clue.

LOL. Well I would not go quite that far (about the peasants that is) but I share your view about Breguet. I first saw one on a poster in Davos in Switzerland and fell in lust with it. After that I went on a Breguet pilgrimage around the watch shops in Zurich. Breguet have a great website which you have probably seen where you can run your mouse over the picture of a watch and see it swivel 360 degrees or even hear a watch chime.

A gold Rolex is mass produced and common by comparison and invariably worn by the nouveau riche. Americans like them and people in Marbella but I think they are vulgar. I bought my Breguet in Manila and was offered a 25% discount over the UK price without even asking and that saving was four times as much as my airfare to Manila in the first place! I only bought the least expensive one!! (several £k)

Patek Philippe are arguably better time pieces but there is something achingly beautiful about a Breguet in my view.

I would like to buy another and one for SWMBO as a wedding present.

I have a nice Pequinet at the moment which I am constantly complicated on but there is nothing like the shear weight, substance, quality and gravitas of a Breguet in my view.

Erik

Hi Gary.
I don't think they've had to re-invent the wheel.
The 911, & especially the 911 turbo is pretty difficult to beat at their respective price-points, imho. They did come up with the 928, which was supposed to replace the 911, & although it was a good car, has now been consigned to history, along with the other 911 competitors, whilst the 911 is going from strength to strength.
matt.

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Nearly all the people on this forum are peasants and wouldn't have a clue.

There are some laughably self-righteous egos here too.

Doug