Design and Technology
Marc Newson - Urban Spaceman (2008)
BBC imagine documentary
www.marc-newson.com
BBC imagine documentary
www.marc-newson.com
(all images taken from this website unless stated)
Marc Newson has designed everything. You may not have heard about him yet, just as in my ignorance I hadn't, but you should have. Design ranging from art sculptures to furniture to coat hangers to aeroplanes, he has done it all. Some of his pieces have sold for record prices in auction houses around the world. He gets paid to think outside the box and change the constraints on design that companies have put on themselves.
It is an interesting concept, being paid to think differently. Sometimes in society thinking differently can be looked down upon; not being the same as everyone else may make you an outcast. Here, however, we have a man who has built his life upon thinking differently to the norm, and the designs he produces because of it. As he said himself "A good designer has to be a geek, interested in fine details."
As an example of his almost sculptural design work: this is the Lockheed Lounge which he designed while studying jewellery at art school. In 1986 they were worth £1000, in 2008 one was sold for $1.5million. Crazy. Or is it?
You may be wondering who buys pieces like this, I certainly was.
You will not be surprised to hear that the answer is wealthy people, very wealthy people. Three men, two from the U.S.A and one from London who have a Lockheed Lounge were interviewed on the programme. One enjoyed the synthesis of the piece between design and art, one thought the piece was sexy, and the other loves pop art and Marc's designs make him aroused... Interesting.
I for one am an appreciator of design, art and the creative mind. Design that wows is a marvel to behold and I have massive respect for any designer who can produce that feeling in a person. As for artwork and design being sexy, well, not for me.
Marc is often employed by large companies to come in and change their thinking: "Sometimes you need a meteorite to come in and blow up all preconceived thinking." I couldn't agree more. Often companies and individuals get so set in their ways that their creativity is stifled due to restraints they have put on themselves. Gaining an outside perspective can be crucial for moving forward and designing for the future.
Marc Newson has designed everything. You may not have heard about him yet, just as in my ignorance I hadn't, but you should have. Design ranging from art sculptures to furniture to coat hangers to aeroplanes, he has done it all. Some of his pieces have sold for record prices in auction houses around the world. He gets paid to think outside the box and change the constraints on design that companies have put on themselves.
It is an interesting concept, being paid to think differently. Sometimes in society thinking differently can be looked down upon; not being the same as everyone else may make you an outcast. Here, however, we have a man who has built his life upon thinking differently to the norm, and the designs he produces because of it. As he said himself "A good designer has to be a geek, interested in fine details."
As an example of his almost sculptural design work: this is the Lockheed Lounge which he designed while studying jewellery at art school. In 1986 they were worth £1000, in 2008 one was sold for $1.5million. Crazy. Or is it?You may be wondering who buys pieces like this, I certainly was.
You will not be surprised to hear that the answer is wealthy people, very wealthy people. Three men, two from the U.S.A and one from London who have a Lockheed Lounge were interviewed on the programme. One enjoyed the synthesis of the piece between design and art, one thought the piece was sexy, and the other loves pop art and Marc's designs make him aroused... Interesting.
I for one am an appreciator of design, art and the creative mind. Design that wows is a marvel to behold and I have massive respect for any designer who can produce that feeling in a person. As for artwork and design being sexy, well, not for me.
Marc is often employed by large companies to come in and change their thinking: "Sometimes you need a meteorite to come in and blow up all preconceived thinking." I couldn't agree more. Often companies and individuals get so set in their ways that their creativity is stifled due to restraints they have put on themselves. Gaining an outside perspective can be crucial for moving forward and designing for the future.
One of Marc's main motivations and passions is space. A lot of his designs, whether purposefully or not, have a space-age look about them. In 2007 he designed a concept jet for space tourism and travel for EADS Astrium. At an estimated £150,000 a trip to experience zero gravity, would you go? One of Marc's motivations if for faster travelling across the world, achieving this by leaving the earth's atmosphere. (http://www.astrium.eads.net/en/programme/space-plane-e93.html for more details)
At the time of writing (2014) this has not been made a reality and is still at a concept phase. Even with pushes from Virgin Galactic "the world's first commercial spaceline" to have passenger jets in space it has not yet been made a reality. However, we may not be that far away. On the 10th of January 2014, Virgin Galactic launched it's reusable space vehicle to the height of 71,000ft at a maximum speed of Mach 1.4. Impressive stuff. For the bargain price of US$250,000 you can book your place today (http://www.virgingalactic.com/booking/ if you fancy it...)
As expensive as this is, it does open up the idea of commercial space travel and the potential of habitation in space. You may think this is a laughable concept, but if you told someone in the 19th century that people would in a couple of hundred years would be jetting across the world for under £1000 and 24 hours for leisure, I'm sure they would have the same reaction.
We may be some time away from living in space and it may never come to be a possibility, but I don't think that such doubts should restrict our thinking and creativity. Living in the future may not involve zero-gravity and space-walks, but what will our future lives look like? What do you want your future life to look like?
As expensive as this is, it does open up the idea of commercial space travel and the potential of habitation in space. You may think this is a laughable concept, but if you told someone in the 19th century that people would in a couple of hundred years would be jetting across the world for under £1000 and 24 hours for leisure, I'm sure they would have the same reaction.
We may be some time away from living in space and it may never come to be a possibility, but I don't think that such doubts should restrict our thinking and creativity. Living in the future may not involve zero-gravity and space-walks, but what will our future lives look like? What do you want your future life to look like?
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