PRODUCT DESIGNERS OF THE FUTURE PART II

Writer: Paul Taylor

Three designers who are breaking away from the “normal” approach to design are Tom Gyr, Lil Yates, and Philip John Luscombe. Not content with following the crowd and just creating nice pieces, these three are proving that you can be crazier than Britney Spears with hair clippers and still create beautiful and intriguing products with a story behind them.

Product Designer Lil Yates looked towards OCD suffers when designing her latest collection made up of Checking Dice, Checking Stamp, and Symmetry Card. I’m not entirely sure her Checking Dice, designed to aid and reduce any stress suffered by OCD patients, met the needs of her brief. Inspired by cult book The Dice Man, Lil’s dice have been created to show tasks the OCD sufferer must perform, such as check the oven, while the second and third dice determine how many times the task must be completed. Does this help or hinder an OCD sufferer though? Does it add yet more things to be performed every day or control what has to be done? If the dice do fail the brief and in fact don’t help reduce stress, then they are, in effect, about as useful as an inflatable dartboard. I actually love these products as nice things, however, and believe that they show Lil has earned her place as one to watch in the design product world.

IMPERFECTIONS CAN BE BEAUTIFUL

Gyr uses his interest in art, design, and craft to give his designs a look that allows them to be adopted into the art design scene. Inspired by nature and pattern combined with a keen interest in material exploration, Gyr has set out to prove that not everything has to be perfect and imperfections can be beautiful. Old rusty metal, cracked concrete, coffee-stained wood, and shattered glass appear to create a series of tabletops aptly titled the Broken Collection, but upon closer inspection, you realise these aren’t the imperfections first thought. Rust and concrete cracks become beautiful patterns, coffee stains reveal inlaid walnut veneer in the shape of fish, whilst the shattered glass becomes the image of a dandelion. Gyr also discovered a soft spot for lonely toast, declaring that toast should always come in even numbers. To solve the odd-numbered toast problem, Gyr has created a double bread knife that allows two pieces of toast to be cut at one time.

Luscombe is on a different bus altogether when it comes to design. Not content with creating knitted, life-size replicas of himself in his spare time, Philip has turned his attention to becoming a design astrologer by predicting how life will be in the future, creating a fictional world where on display is “a selection of objects from the Museum of Modern Britain 2050 Retrospective,” looking back at design from the years 2008-2038. Categories recreation, food, and the home provide us with must-see products such as straight bananas, which were first sold in 2014, and the Karmaceutricals Romantic Aide, a “lab-grown, microwavable, self contained, self-lubricating body part made to order,” making you wonder just what goes on in Luscombe’s head. However, when placed alongside other products—Campfire Frame and Starter Box, Rice Brick, Wicker Basket, and Bread Slicing Machine-these products make you really appreciate just how amazing they are. “By designing and exhibiting products that will satisfy an imagined future market, Philip’s work engages and entertains whilst certainly arousing debate.”