z e i s t g e i s t

GOT MILK? Got anything you need the world to know concerning design? Say it Now.

2007-09-24T20:48:00.000+02:00

Instead of blablabla bla blablabla blabla bla blablabla blabla blablabla bla blablabla blabla bla blablabla blabla bla blablabla bla blablabla from all the bla blablabla and bla blablabla blabla blablabla bla blablabla blabla bla, we'd like to hear from YOU.

What's your design point?

Toys for Boys.

2007-09-07T23:54:00.000+02:00

"When the Lights go down in the City, and the Sunshine's on the Bay..." I love Lights, and I love to design lights. But my son, he's just crazy about lights. One of the first things he did as a baby was find out what the lightswitch was and did. Pure Magic. While at first the character "l" ("...amp") was hard for him to pronounce, only a little later he became a young master with language and words. We're really proud of him. Of course he never gave up his fascination with lights and every oportunity to find new lights ended up in knowing every shop that sells lights in the region.
One of the most fantastic however, we found in a toystore. It plays with rhytms, patterns and pleasant surprise. A real Journey.

Retro Sucks

2007-09-07T15:02:00.000+02:00

I guess that most people won't ever see this, but what today's retro design does, is forming a suggestive, false sense of comfort. It triggers a memory of good times in times of fear. It leans more towards conservatism than towards progression, and yet it is fashionable and sometimes even trendy...

Coffee-machines looking as if they're right out of sixties italian cafes and cars with soft curves and sparkling memories of revolutionary new design. The story of automobile design however, has it's very own merits. The original Fiat 500, being placed in it's original time of introduction, was a symbol of freedom, liberation, joy and happy feelings. The same story of course goes for the Morris Mini.
The projected image of comfort, style and happiness was originally related to that particular period in time, whereas in modern times comfortzones are called in because of "general fear" in society. Soft, gentle curves, warm motherly design. Where the Porsche 911 has a reputation of evolutionary design, Porsche made a sidestep being called "model 996". In fact the 996 was "marketing design" where the design of the Boxster concept car was abused. While the Boxster felt as an evolution to the Speedster, the prominent headlight design was strong, but being put both on the 996 AND the Boxster made it feel as a big mistake. Then, to the relief of most 911 enthusiasts the introduction of 997 felt as if everything was OK again. In fact the 997 was retro, but it also felt as if a sidestep was being corrected.

What then is wrong with the FIAT 500? It looks good doesn't it? Well, that's it: it looks good. It just looks good. It refers to the image of old times. But it feels fake, it feels schizophrenic: it wants to be oldfashioned and modern at the same time. It's not about natural growth, natural evolution. It's only about marketing, marketing design. And that's cold.

Learn from your history, don't copy it.

Ferrari 468 Famigliale

2007-08-31T10:49:00.000+02:00

Ferrari is not everybody's cup of tea, and let's face it: since Enzo Ferrari died the tea doesn't always taste that good. The tea that was almost shockingly bad taste to me came with the introduction of the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. I'm sure it must be a hell of a drive, but why does it have to be so out of proportion?

So, what I did is look at it's purpose. What makes this car different from other Ferrari's? (you sure do not want to compare it to other families, do you?) The most essential difference is: it has 4 seats. So then, if you want 4 seats in a supercar AND your familyname is Ferrari, why would'nt you have the best of all?

As a familyman I thought the familycompartment should be bigger, to enjoy the ride more for everyone, and while doing that, get the shape more in proportion. Oh, and ehm, I took the 12 cylinder out and replaced it with a 4.6 litre 8 cylinder.

I wonder so much what Enzo Ferrari would think of that?

Zeistgeist is not Zeitgeist.

2007-08-30T21:12:00.000+02:00

In a very short period of time the ignorance of the German language has lead to a new word on the internet. Instead of the word "Zeitgeist", the word "Zeistgeist" is used (you wouldn't tell me they're all typos, would you?...) and the amount of misuses today via Google reads 15.100. "Zeistgeist" means "the spirit of Zeist", which is me... Isn't that amusing and annoying at the same time?

Infinity.

2007-08-28T19:50:00.000+02:00

One great thing of being a parent is having great discussions. It took me many years to accept that time doesn't have a beginning, nor does it have an end. It took so long because I wanted my mind to be able to realize, feel this infinity. Grasp it's essence. And after a long struggle I finally accepted that there are boundaries to what I can do with my mind. I came to terms with the idea that it's enough to be able to know the essence of infinity without being able to feel it. There never was a beginning in time, nor will there ever be an end. And there never was a beginning in space, and never will there be an end.
And then my son came. He was reading a script about time and started talking to me about it. "It feels strange in my head" he said, and then that he wouldn't accept it. He wouldn't accept that there never was a beginning. I let it rest. We'll see when the subject comes up again.