The Genius of Design
The ABC is showing a series called the Genius of Design starting this week on Tuesday evening. It should be compulsory viewing for anyone with an interest in the way design influences our lives.
We live in a designed world, created by a diverse group of specialists that we call designers. This series tells the story of design from the Industrial Revolution to the present day, from the accidental birth of design to the central role it now plays as we struggle with issues of over-production, rampant consumerism and the damage to the environment.
We can look forward to interviews with some of the world’s leading designers, including Philippe Starck, Dieter Rams, Apple’s Leeathan Ive, and Ford’s J Mays.
The Genius Of Design takes us on a journey to explore the ways in which designers over the past 250 years have created the kind of products that we take for granted. Starting with the Industrial Revolution, continuing all the way to contemporary corporations including Apple, IKEA, Ford and Volkswagen, the Genius Of Design tells the story of designers who created the simple everyday objects our great grandparents used, from Wedgwood to William Morris. It also looks at the anonymous designers responsible for ordinary but classical designs for cast-iron cooking pots and sheep shears – forerunners of the commercially produced objects we see on the shelves of our supermarkets and hardware stores. There is a lot to learn from this fascinating story about the history of design, I’ll be watching!
Yours in design,
Richard
