Bamboo Glasses

In design we see the growing use of synthetic materials in the 'anti' retro movement. To counter this I offer the 'Ming' bamboo glasses from the yii Collection of Taiwan recently found at Designboom, these objects are not only wonderfully tactile but additionally made from a beautiful and versatile natural material..... bamboo.
One look at the material used in this form and you can see its natural beauty, in the unique hinge mechanism you can see the use of the grain of the bamboo introduced by designer Chen, Chin-Hao and Bamboo artist Huang, To-En
Reading comments from the post - I was struck by those who wished they could wear glasses - specially if they looked as stylish as these..... I would love a pair of these.

Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin

Not only does the Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin look just the smoothest and most elegantly designed object of desire, it also does the job giving excellent sound reproduction and output right across the sound range.

From any angle that you view the Zeppelin it delights the eye,

It even sports a stylish and functional remote control,

I would certainly want one........!

Postscript..... just look at Bowers and Wilkins classy 800 Series Diamond Speaker no more needs to be said!!

The work of Tom Shannon

Today the objects of desire all come from the fertile imagination of one man - Manhattan based designer/artist Tom Shannon is probably best known for his magnetic/anti gravity sculptures as shown at TED:


However his latest flight of fancy is the video airship

The idea is that vast, spherical video-airships, their frames entirely covered in a matrix of 7 61 million LEDs, their very propulsion systems concealed by advertising, might soon be hovering over the U.S. from sea to shining sea. The Patent Office has awarded a patent on the airships to a N.Y. inventor, Tom Shannon, who has been working on the design, named “Air Genie,” for years.

“It’s a historical development of airships and media,” Shannon said Thursday. “It’s pretty extraordinary, if it gets built.”


The proposed all-glowing neo-dirigible would be 35m in diameter, holding 22,5003 meters of helium, and weigh some 20,000 kg. The 7m LEDs would cost about $36m and add another 1,300 kilos to the airship’s weight — and a need for more than a kilowatt of juice to power them.

Getting it off the drawing board and making it real is the next step.

“I’m trying to put together the financing to build and operate them,” Shannon saud, “Hopefully the patent will help in that regard.”

The airship’s huge size, it turns out, isn’t optional: the weight of the electrical propulsion system hidden within demands an enormous volume of helium—”You can only lift about a kilo per cubic meter”—to provide sufficient lift. Advertisers won’t be disappointed, however: the 3,848 square meters of surface area thus created offers ample space to get a message across.

Air Genie - Tom Shannon from Tom Shannon on Vimeo.

Design means all.......!

Today the object of desire is in two parts -(1) the object is the elegantly styled active spoiler on the back of (2) the beautifully designed Porsche Boxter.
I was following one of the dream machine's this afternoon and was struck by the elegant simplicity of the rising and falling rear spoiler on the Boxter in front of me, realising of course that as with many objects that just work, there is a lot more going on under the surface - pure engineering in this case. And as my criterion for selection for this blog is that objects must simply pass my test the Porsche Boxter and its delightful spoiler are definitely in - I have as yet never owned one ..... however.... I want one....!

M60M Watch by Roger Kellenberger

Today is the turn of the M60M disc watch or 'Hollow Watch' by designer Roger Kellenberger. The centre is open in this watch which operates by rotating discs around the face which shows hours and full quarters only, it fits my ideal of a watch which gives you an approximate time.
It is undoubtedly an elegant and unusual member of the watch family and fits beautifully with a system similar to snowboard binding which is released by the subtle button. It continues our journey into designs which have that certain something...... which would make you want one....

The PhilcoPC (a retro object of desire)

Above is the highly desirable but at present just a design concept for a retro style Philco PC by the SchultzeWorks design studio from Pasadena. The project idea comes from the 1950's Philco Predicta TV which was in itself quite an innovative design for the times.
The keyboard as you can see passes a more than passing resemblance to a 1950's typewriter which would hopefully have a satisfying key feel and sound if and when this ever goes into production..... which I sincerely hope happens at some time in the near future.
The PhilcoPC first appeared in a press release in December 2009, this was taken up by many online gadget and design sites. News from Dave Schultz themselves is that 'SchultzeWORKS and the Philco PC have been invited to participate in the IDSA-sponsored IDEA awards, or the ‘International Design Excellence Awards’. Entries were due February 1st, 2010, so the Philco PC is now entered in the Computer Equipment / Concepts & Prototypes category.' from SchultzWorks blog 5th February 2010

I am very pleased to have this desirable object which is as yet only a concept be the first post for this new blog which will concentrate on unusual yet beautiful objects all of which I would say.........I want one........