Looking back over 2009 there were several articles within the design press reiterating Dieter Rams’ strategy of “Good design is as little design as possible”. Of all Rams’ design principles, this one rings truest for me. There is currently a Dieter Rams exhibition at the London Design Museum which if you’re in the neighbourhood shouldn’t be missed. If you didn’t know, Rams literally shaped our world with his radical industrial and product design at Braun, so if you thought the iPod was cool, you should see the work of the man who designed the first hi-fi over 50 years ago… They say ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ but as much as I love their products, Apple and Jonathan Ive have a lot to thank Rams for. Here are some choice examples of Rams’ work:

Rams’ work has much more to offer than his well-known and imitated 1950s pocket radios and hi-fis. Here’s the Design Museum write-up: ’As head of design at Braun, the German consumer electronics manufacturer, Dieter Rams emerged as one of the most influential industrial designers of the late 20th century by defining an elegant, legible, yet rigorous visual language for its products. The exhibition will showcase Rams’ landmark designs for Braun and furniture manufacturer Vitsœ, examine how Rams’ design ethos inspired Braun’s entire product range for over 40 years, and assess his lasting influence on today’s design landscape.’

You can read more about the exhibition and Rams’ trend-setting design while refreshing yourself of his famous design principles here:
http://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/2009/2009-dieter-rams
http://designmuseum.org/design/dieter-rams

(Opinion: Jon Price – Designer)

So I went out last night for a spot of grub and when ordering at the bar I spotted a small green Buddha smiling at me from the fridge. Of course, being an enthusiast of Japanese and Chinese lager I had to snap-up a bottle of Lucky. Lucky – an Asian style lager, is owned by Barons Brewers of Australia, is bottled in China and consists of rice flake, malted barley and Czech hops. But all of that is insignificant – it’s the unique bottle that sold it for me. With design emphasis on the bottle rather than label graphics (although the logo is pretty vintage-cool),
the bespoke beer bottle features the seated, laughing Chinese character Pu-Tai, holding a large gold ingot above his head. “Many believe this figure of a Buddha to be a symbol of wealth, happiness and life fulfilment. We consider him to be the enlightened good-time guy”. In Eastern culture it is considered good luck to rub the Buddha’s belly, I decided to just take the bottle home instead… is that sad? (No comments on this post please.)

Lucky isn’t a new beer on the market but is apparently quite hard to find, despite it reportedly being sold in some supermarkets. Find out more here: www.luckydrinkco.com

(Opinion: Jon Price – Designer)