My design classic
The legendary founder of The Designers Republic doesn’t do design classics. Instead, Ian Anderson flips the concept to question the iconic nature of design
Welcome to the museum of ideas other people have already had. I know, I know, those who ignore the past are condemned to repeat it, but Shirley isn’t the medium the massage?
I don’t understand the desire to cordon off design, to categorise it or to honour it with hails and Hosannas beyond the purpose for which it was created. I prefer to think outside the box full of design classics. I’m interested in the potential of what’s left, unpolluted, outside.
Yes, I get a buzz out of stuff that tickles my fancy, but there’s no hierarchy of influence – no need to interrupt the flux and flow of the potential of everything, by casting names in stone.
I hope what I like today will change with the weather tomorrow… Don’t dabble in absolutes: I don’t want Best Ofs – I want to hear the B-sides; see behind the curtain. I want to know what makes people tick. I want to know ‘why’ – and I want to feed that into an ever expanding Anderson-tartan of cool shit bouncing around in my head.
I don’t want Design Classics, I want it all – The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. Throw a spanner in my works and see what you find…
The Guerrilla Art Action Group and the idea of (his majesty) King Mob’s design born of flaming-words, truth born of arguments. Fluxus or bust / Dadaists / The Trigan Empire / Burney’s British Rail and The Pre-New / Hasegawa and Kobayashi’s Trademarks & Logotypes in Japan 82-83 versus The Swiss flag / the sound of Fast Product and fast history / Brody and Barnes’ Kirk-ish Micro-Phonies / ‘everything’, bubbles dipped in Pedro Bell’s super-derailed/detailed funkadelia (yes, you do) / John F. Power-ed Crush Collisionism feeding off Meddings, McLuhan, Marber, Moore, Miles and The Mayakovsky/Rodchenko advertising constructor.
A ceremonial fly-past eyes right to Robin Fior / David King’s futuretro-constructivist ur-political ANL ‘NF=[Swastika]’ tossing the digestive with Rod Clarke’s proto / post swiss / punk, Unit Editions’ OO-AAH TDR™ and the monkey that guards it, Dreams Come True, Television all day every day NOT war, Call Down The Thunder™ etc.
It’s all just Atoms Vectors Pixels Ghosts™ just like tDR’s new show. Aim Low + M_ss… Just give me a blank sheet of paper and all the options that go with it.
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