ISOKON PENGUIN DONKEY

Writer: Paul Taylor

Brandon Flowers from the Killers once said in an interview that he wishes he had written the hit song “America” by English indie band Razorlight. I don’t know why that quote has always stuck with me, but perhaps it’s because I’ve often had a similar thought. As a designer you look towards other designers, and you admire them from a different perspective. You don’t just see a chair or a lamp, but you see the materials used, you analyse how it was designed and made, and you question whether you could have designed it better. And if you could not have designed it better, then you admit you wished you had designed it yourself.

A design that I have long admired is the Isokon Penguin Donkey 2, designed back in 1963 by Ernest Race. For years I have longed to own this little bundle of fun that stores Penguin reading books and also acts as an occasional side or coffee table. It is the piece that I wished I had designed-and no, I could not have designed it better. Race, though, obviously believed that he could design better when he first set eyes upon the original Penguin Donkey.

THE ORIGINAL PENGUIN DONKEY

The original Donkey was designed in the late 1930s by Egon Riss and looked set to become a bigger bestseller than the books destined to be stored upon its shelves. Unfortunately, the Second World War broke, and only 100 Donkey bookcases were produced, selling instantly and ensuring its rarity. Just before this launch, Allen Lane, who published the Penguin paperback books, also fell in love with the Donkey (as it was then known due to its four legs and two panniers) and spotted a great marketing ploy. Noticing that his Penguin classics were perfectly sized to occupy the shelving space of the Donkey, Lane promoted the bookcase by inserting leaflets into 100,000 Penguin books, prompting the new name Penguin Donkey.

Since the second edition, there has also been a third Penguin Donkey added to the range by Azumi in 2003, but in my opinion, it fails in comparison, due to losing its playful “donkey look.” The first Donkey is perhaps the most recognisable of the three and is widely considered the design classic due to its rarity and showcasing of bent plywood, but the Penguin Donkey 2 will always get my vote as the true design classic. It totally captures what the first Donkey was all about and then sells itself as a stand-alone design with its sleeker, quirkier look.