Beauty in design

When I was a kid my dad bought a new Chrysler. A 1953 Windsor. We were in high cotton. Me and my sister Joanie hopped in the back seat while mom and dad sat up front like the king and queen they were. We drove off so slowly from the house I’m not sure the car clunked into gear until we were almost at the end of our block. It had the first automatic transmission we ever had, the seats were like mohair, and the smell was heaven itself.

But the thing that got me the most about the car was the design of it. The way the front end swept gracefully down to the ever-flowing fenders and finally into the heavy chrome grill and the wheel wells behind it. The dashboard looked like only pilots could understand the dials. The gnarled wood and metal fused to make us feel as though Chrysler knew we had good taste in art. Even the window winders got my attention. They were solid multi-layered metal which were on springs that kept them folded flat against the door until winding the window down or up was needed. Classic!

I’ve come to love these designs my whole life. I was in my late twenties by the time I realized that this style of design was Art Deco. I have since gone on to appreciate this style, which was integrated into our culture in the late teens and went out around the mid 50’s, as my favorite form of American art.

My favorite building is the Chrysler building. My favorirte watches are the old Elgin and Benruses from the 40’s. My favorite cars are out of the 40’s and 50’s. My favorite jewelry is the bakelite and metal designs from the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. And on and on.

This morning I was waiting for Nemo to get his gear together for another day at the Macworld conference I sat by the window looking through a huge coffee table tome of Art Deco designs including all the above and more. And it dawned on me, why it was so popular and lasted so long. It was the simplicity of the designs along with the complexity of the ideals of the culture at the time. For me it was design fornicating with art.

By that I mean that the art truly loved the design and the design loved the art. It created something greater than the some of its parts. Everything from jewelry to architecture reflected this ideal.

Today there is no such thing. everything is designed to function as simply and dryly as possible. Sure, there are some creative designs out there but they reflect pragmatism. They’re boring. Anyone who thinks that a MacBook, as much as I love this here machine, is beautiful has no sense of art or design, as far as I’m concerned. The iPod design-wise, leaves me dry. Does anyone think that the new MacBook Air is beautiful just because it’s skinny? There’s no “chutzpah” in anything anymore. Technology has taken over beauty, and now the beauty lies only in what the thing can do, but not how it looks.

Why can’t we have both? Why do we create things that look like pieces of nothing? Is there no idealism anymore? Does everything have to be so “real” that personality and character are forbidden?

I challenge Steve and the boys to come up with something the world can really ooh and ahh about. Something that says…”…not only is this the thinnest, fastest, coolest, baddest laptop on the market, but it reflects the inner soul of its creator. It tells the buyer that his taste and design are respected, and anyone who sees this thing will know that it’s something to be desired, not only for its function but for its beauty.

Come on Steve. Get with it. Let’s see what you really got. After all, you can only go so thin, so small, so fast, so slick, before it just disappears entirely, which it looks to me to be exactly where its going.

Imagine one of these or anything of beauty integrated into the design in the back of the iPod, MacBook, etc. More $. Sure, but it’s worth it, don’t you think?