fledge capable of flying, from Middle English flegge, from Old English -flycge; akin to Old High German flucki capable of flying,
Old English flEogan to fly -- more at FLY
intransitive verb, of a young bird : to acquire the feathers necessary for flight or independent activity

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The major lift

I'm going to really stick my neck out here and say what I think is good design. I'm not a designer. I make things and maybe they are design. Good design is good, no matter what you do to it. It has joy in it. It inspires. Really, what's it to you?



Despite the lip sync. Despite the Mainz-Lerchenberger Gesangverein e.V. Despite the socially progressive, ethnically interesting set dressing with Asylbewerber. Despite the best production elements ZDF with all that Rundfunksteuer (defies translation) could afford ... Leonard Cohen brings art. Enough art to keep indy musicians touring for decades.

Trust me, you'll be singing "Goes like this. The fourth. The fifth ..."

Jeff Buckley's live version on Grace EPS lifts me.

2 comments:

mooi hoor... said...

What is good design to me?
I'll have to turn the question around otherwise I'll get stuck.
Bad design to me is:
- an object that desperately tries to be original (correction: nothing against being original but something against being farfetched),
- or art (is design art? Do you want to be able to sit on a chair or not, or form a symbiosis with it and end up as a "Gesamtkunstwerk"? O help: what is art? Let's leave his one out maybe...),
- something that disguises itself as another object (my gut feeling says that in many cases we are moving into the direction of bad kitsch here, like funny toothpickholders, or toiletbrushes that look like a cactus)

So if all of the above is bad design what is good design to me then? Something genuine. Look at it and you know that a line, a cut, the material is just right for this specific object. New, old, mainly functional or mostly decorative, cheap or expensive it doesn't matter. Good design brings out the "soul" of an object. A Porsche is a fast car, London's current city center has the set up to be the heart of an empire and ALL soapdispensers suck.

Oh boy, I won't write any comments anymore. They're too long and I'm afraid I sound like a teacher, and you'll put me on the DRAG list ;). Bye

Fledgling said...

Come back, mooi hoor! Come back, anytime. I think you're spot on. Gesamtkunstwerk with my chair! LOL: I have several beautiful uncomfortable chairs and I guess the performance art I am making is "Woman With Back Pain".

No, design is not art. Design must have a function. That much I know. Art just is. But I think both art and good design transcend whatever is going on around it. The way Leonard Cohen's lyrics and melody transcend the fog machine.

One more thing: So many designers, so little design. How come? I have several things around here that would not be embarrassed to show up in dwell, and yet, they are not "vollkommen". KWIM?

It's been ten years since I've been in London: What's happening?

THANKS for the words! More, more, mooi!

-N.

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