Top Row (left to right)
1. Jacob Jensen Curve Watch
2. Balenciaga Semi-Structured leather backpack.
3. Beolit 12 by Bang & Olufsen.
Middle Row (left to right)
1. Cote & Ciel Flat Backpack
2. Nifty MiniDrive
3. Benjamin Hubert Plicate Watch for Nava.
Bottom Row (left to right)
1. Menu Tea Kettle + heater
2. Hul’s Carlin iPad Case Kickstarter. (Project unsuccessful.)
3. Vitruvio Speaker by Juan Soriano Blanco and Giorgio Bonaguro

Om Malik is a San Francisco based writer, photographer and investor. Read More

12 thoughts on “9 Beautifully Designed Things”

  1. Consider Kant’s Critique of Judgement and you may find there’s a difference between the beautiful and the sublime. Similarly, for me, these objects’ appeal is not necessarily apparent (e.g., a watch who’s face I can’t read is useless and unappealing), but they are most definitely sublime, i.e., they possess an air of mystery and ineffability. Thus, I might change the title of this post to Nine Sublime Objects. #WWDNS (What Would Donald Norman Say) 🙂

  2. I would argue that those two watch faces are pretty simple and easy to read compared to the complicated chronographs people spend thousands on. I have seen one of those watches in person and can say that you can easily read time almost instantly.

  6. I’d side with Chris Sessums here. The two timepieces both suffer from a case of design obscuring function. Both are easily readable if on your wrist but lack any cues to reading time if viewed from other orientations.

    1. Having seen both of these up close and personal, I respectfully disagree. I think that is why I find them interesting. They are always questioning what is conventional.

      1. I’ve only seen the NAVA in the flesh, so to speak, but my immediate response was “Art for art’s sake”. It might be nice as a personal accessory but as a timepiece I feel it’s a non-starter.

        Good design, for me, is about making life easier or simpler for people not harder or more complicated and I don’t find either timepiece to fulfil those criteria. As ornamental objects they are both pleasant enough to the eye but, in my view, fall way below par on usability.

        So I guess we have different views on what constitutes good design and we’ll just have to struggle on in life agreeing to disagree over the minor details.

        1. The good thing about design is that two people can have different emotional and intellectual reaction to the same thing. I for god sake can’t make head or tails of why people like Android. But a billion people do. So from that standpoint I have to respect what they think.

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