Word: designators
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Some critics dismiss this as "retro," and that draws a grimace from Mays, who prefers words like "progressive." But he admits that one thing he learned in his 14 years of designing cars for Volkswagen/Audi is that you never look forward without first looking over your shoulder. Not surprisingly, the first design from Ford that bears Mays' signature is the 2001 Thunderbird, which at a glance looks distinctly like the 1957 model of the same name. Others must agree, given the fleet of nostalgia-tinged new models coming from the likes of Chrysler, Jaguar and Nissan...
...York to cover international business. But his experience as a U.S. correspondent also proved valuable last week when he wrote about the shootings at the North Valley Jewish Community Center. This week Gibney returns to business, scrutinizing the market issues that are forcing automobile companies to make design a strategic weapon. "I gained an appreciation for just how complicated it is to come up with any product that is both artful and appealing to consumers," Gibney says. "Designers are discovering with cars that if you look back at great models of the past, you'll find some inspiration for what...
When renowned architect Michael Graves was asked over lunch two years ago whether he might want to design a line of home products for a discount-store chain, he paused. Ron Johnson, who runs the home-decor division for Target, suggested Graves stroll one of the company's 800 or so stores and place a Post-it note on every product that needed improvement. Replied the man who recently designed the award-winning Denver Central Library: "I'm not sure there are enough Post-it notes in the world...
Graves, nevertheless, wasn't too stuck up to ink a deal with Target, for whom he has designed everything from funky spatulas ($3.99) to patio-furniture sets ($499). Not surprisingly, his Target toaster was a silver-place winner at this year's Industrial Design Excellence Awards...
Call it commodity chic. Marketers of watches and desk chairs, lawn sets and household tools are courting the world's top artists in a bid to make design a critical selling point. Like Graves, architect Philippe Starck is busy putting his mark of conceptual brilliance on a lineup of bathroom fixtures, from sinks to urinals, for the German company Duravit. And designer Marc Newson, 35, has done kitchen accessories for Italy's upscale Alessi, a bicycle for Denmark's Biomega, and the bar at Andre Balazs' new Standard Hotel in Los Angeles--in addition to a car for Ford...