Erik Bagger
I came across a design object by Erik Bagger on the Metropolis magazine - a wine stopper made of black rubber and stainless steel. A beautiful object Further search on the internet revealed many of his designed artifacts.
They speak of simplicity and are simply beautifully functional. Such design concepts are what I believe in and hope to achieve for myself.
While most magazines classify such design principles as being Japanese (think Muji) or Scandinavian, I would just say they are honest designs that express their worth (not shouting for attention more than they should be used and kept for their intended lifespan).
I'd say, good design comes from expression of truth.
If you only has one day to keep a design magazine...
I love books; most of my design studio friends and lecturers would concur with this statement.
I subscribed to magazines, as well as bought them off the counters. As a result, I accumulated many magazines - Metropolis, Space, Digital SLR Photographers, National Geographic, etc.
Because I always thought I would love to refer to them in the future, I kept them as neatly as I would with my other books in my bookcases; they actually looked as new as they were first bought. There is a catch. I never bother to read them; I would merely scan through them before they went into the bookcases.
Recently, there came to a point where I no longer see a need to clutter my life with things. I made it a point to discard books and magazines. Yes, most of them cost me > SGD 20.00 or more.
This is indeed a turning point for me: I started to read the books and magazines. I select those articles that I like best and I read them, feeding my mind with past design knowledge (well, they are few years old by now; but good design principles are timeless anyway). I also sliced out some beautiful images of design, photography and of objects and use them to form a collage for my office wall. Finally, my magazines are living up to their lives that was meant to be - use and not kept.
There is wisdom beyond just clearing of clutters of books and magazines to make one's life simple. I am reminded to live for now, not for the unknown future. How about you?
