My ten favourite pieces of product design #5: bicycle

I think this is perhaps my favourite ever piece of product design. The bicycle as we know it emerged at the end of the 19th / beginning of the 20th century, looking something like this:

And it hasn’t changed very much since then…

I love the bike’s simplicity, efficiency and elegance. It gets me where I need to be in a reasonable time with no more faff or hassle than needed. I currently ride a Farrhad Manufaktur, like this one:

Obviously, my isn’t nearly as clean as this 😉

It’s a little on the heavy side, but is very low maintenance and the mudguards mean I don’t get splattered en route to work, even if it’s raining.

The only downside of owning a bike in London is that they can get stolen every once in a while, which is very annoying indeed.

My ten favourite pieces of product design #6: yellow oilskin

I’ve attracted some mockery for this one, but I believe a true design classic is the hardwearing yellow oilskin. I’ve seen so many lightweight nylon/goretex waterproofs expire after a couple of years, I deided to go back to basics;

Basic, heavy and durable

It is about as featureless as a jacket can be, but does the basic stuff well- keeping the rain out. Its only downside is its extreme weight, and the ‘Norwegian Fisherman’ comments some of my snootier friends and family make. This particular jacket actually saved my elbow from a scrape during my recent bike slip- a lesser waterproof, I am sure, would have ripped quite badly!

My ten favourite pieces of product design #4: le creuset casserole

France, 1925
Le Crueset

Cooking certain things very slowly makes them taste very good indeed.A heavy cast iron pot is just the trick.

Our Le Creuset, called Nigel, regularly dishes up such delicacies as melt-in-the-mouth roast lamb and stoved potatoes. 

MY TEN FAVOURITE PIECES OF PRODUCT DESIGN #2: Coffee filter

Germany, 1908
Melitta Bentz

Surprising that one of the most minimalist ways of brewing coffee is also one of the best! Note that Bentz was repsonsible for the idea of the paper filter, not necessarily the plastic cone.
(Via About.com inventors)

Good because

Best taste, and very easy to clean!

My ten favourite pieces of product design #1: Caran D’Ache Fixpencil

Switzerland, 1929
Carlo Schmid

Why is this a classic?

A simple 2mm clutch pencil first produced in 1929 and altered very little since. Solidly made from aluminium, with a clever repointer built into the end cap. Here’s an image of a very early version for comparison:

Good for

Writing and sketching