Looking at the object dubbed “Cold Attraction” featured in our current round-up, the scenes of “2001: A Space Odyssey” considered a classic of the sci-fi genre keep flashing before our eyes. The external hard drive popping up in Stanley Kubrick’s film looking like a monolith is not only expressive and associative in terms of its appearance, but also in terms of how it is presented. And we would bet large amounts that the iconic movie also came to the mind of the designer, Maxime de Grelle, while designing the object.
Today, our life would be unimaginable without digital devices: the majority of our objects needed for daily work belongs to this category. Laptops, tablets, smart phones and smart watches – to only mention the basics – are with us at all times and places. We became addicted to these objects, while they enticed us with a sense of freedom: “easy and comfortable use anywhere, anytime” – and there we were, committed.
Our objects originally related to our jobs started to demand more and more time and space over time: typewriters used to be heavy at the beginning, they had their own place on the likewise heavy and immovable desk, and then the portable ones appeared on the market packed into a suitcase, later followed by electronic typewriters, which we didn’t even have to hit so loudly, until we arrived into the era of light-as-a-feather laptops, not to mention tablets, where the keyboard “became one” with the screen.
Digital devices want to be appealing. Desirable even if we use them as work equipment. Tangible devices that take us into the digital world. High-tech round-up from VR headsets to statuesque guitar amplifiers, from Brussels to Buenos Aires.
Kitti Mayer
design theorist
Cold Attraction | Brussels, Belgium
Maxime le Grelle
Next Gen. VR Headset | Trondheim, Norway
Lucas Couto
BREEZE / Guitar Amp | Seoul, South Korea / Houston, USA
JOOM ,
Weekend-works .com
Apple x Procreate Concept | La Rochelle, France
Simon Pavy
Wooden Headphones | Buenos Aires, Argentina
Lautaro Lucero
Uido Design Studio
Trip Vibes | Kőbánya, Budapest
„We listen to, criticize and inspire each other” | Kreativ Werk
