Oh! Gizmo

By David Ponce

We’ve written about Philippe Stark a few times before. He’s an influential French industrial designer who’s gotten involved in the design of an endless stream of consumer products from juicers, to teddy bears and now hard drives. Partnering up with LaCie, he’s helped develop these drives with an interesting design. The desktop drives have a customizable touch-sensitive surface allowing you to launch preselected applications based on how you touch them. They comes in 1TB or 2TB sizes ($129 or $249) , and also feature the Starck Signature LED (a “+” sign, since the man likes to spell his name S+arck) which glows green or orange based on activity. There are also portable versions of these drives in sizes 320-500GB, with prices starting at $99.

[ Desktop Drive Product Page ] AND [ Portable Drive Product Page ] AND [ Interview With Starck ] VIA [ Uncrate ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Did you know that famed designer Philippe Starck, who’s influenced everything from juicers to computer mice has even tried his hand at stuffed animals? No? Well there’s probably a good reason you haven’t, because this is what came of it.

The TeddyBearBand was created with the idea that kids frequently move from one toy to another, and what they can’t live without one week, ends up in the bottom of the toy chest the next. So instead of just being a stuffed bear, the TeddyBearBand also serves as a stuffed dog, rabbit and possibly a sheep, all at the same time. When the child gets tired of one animal, they just flip it around and move onto the next.

Of course what makes for an interesting design study to adults, is probably a source of nightmares for a small child, but I think it’s safe to say we’ve found the perfect villain for Spiderman 4.

[ TeddyBearBand (under goods goods) ] VIA [ Yokiddo ]

By Evan Ackerman

Isn’t it unfair that it’s not socially acceptable for men to wear jewelry? I mean, we like shiny things as much as anyone, right guys? Whether or not it was his intention (and I’m reasonably sure it wasn’t), designer Philippe Starck has created a watch that’s effectively invisible, blending seamlessly into a lovely silver band that you can wear without feeling too girly (unless, you know, you like feeling girly). [ Nope. -Ed.] The crystal face of the watch has been flush mounted and electroplated to match the band to the point where you can barely (just barely) make out the hands… Sure, it might be a little difficult to tell time with it, but it sure is pretty. Good thing it’s a totally manly and practical watch, too. Yours for $150.

[ Philippe Starck ] VIA [ technabob ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Thank goodness it’s April 2nd. I used to love April 1st but now that I have to put up with stupid ‘April Fools’ news stories I’ve come to loathe the day. Please people, leave the fake news stories to The Onion writers. Anyways back to reality and a great little invention that I bet a lot of our readers could have used at one time or another. Created by none other than Philippe Starck the “Ceci n’est pas une broutette” (or “this is not a wheelbarrow”) basically combines a comfortably upholstered chair with a wheelbarrow, even though the name may claim otherwise.

Everyone at some point has had to move a friend, family member, co-worker, teacher, babysitter or even loveable hobo who was too drunk to stand on their own. A standard wheelbarrow would work just fine but there’s no reason the inebriated person shouldn’t be comfortable during the trip. That’s why the seat and back of this chair are padded and upholstered in a pale pink satin. Very classy especially considering your passenger will probably be throwing up every 2 minutes.

And I’ll suggest to any readers who are seriously interested in this that a trip to Home Depot and a weekend with the tools might be a better idea since the Wheelbarrow Chair is listed at $4,750 euros or about $6,400 US dollars. But given the design dates back to ‘95 I doubt the chairs are still for sale.

[ "Ceci n'est pas une broutette" ] VIA [ Cribcandy ]

By David Ponce

It’s just a backpack folks. It’s made by french designer Jerome Olivet, who apparently spent three years working with the legendary Philippe Starck (who incidentally, likes to spell his name S+arck). He has studied gesture and movement of the body to come up with this fabulous range of products.

And, well, hell, no one really cares about all that stuff, right? It’s a pretty backpack. It’s £126.50 ($220), and it’s right here. Story VIA Prylfeber.

Originally published at Gizmodo

By David Ponce

With this product, I was faced with a dilemma. See, it’s old. And very much so, as it was created in the mid-80s by Philippe Starck (who, incidentally, likes to spell his name a very artsy “S+arck???). Yet, it has got to be the most striking lemon squeezer I’ve seen, and as such deserving of some attention, even 20 years later. In my inconsequential opinion anyway.

I like to think it looks like some alien spaceship. That, however, is what a six year old might say. Instead, here are the words from the Alessi catalogue.

It remains unparalleled in its ability to generate discussions about its meaning and design, partly because of its unconventional use of what semiologists refer to as the decorative veil, a notion that suggests there is always a certain degree of freedom in interpreting relationships between Form and Function.

I have no idea what any of that really means. I’ll tell you this though: after 20 years, it still sells quite well, and does so for $75 at Fitzu.