Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Gather round now....the worlds most beautiful object?

Seen in Design Week online this week...by Jack Jones

'The Gyrofocus fireplace has been named as ‘the world’s most beaufiful object’ by the Pulchra design contest. It was by France-based designer Dominique Imbert, founder of Focus Fireplaces.



The 1968 design was voted for by a majority of the 74 425 respondents asked to select a top ten from the 100 objects shortlisted by the Pulchra jury.

An example of the hanging, rotating fireplace will now be preserved for posterity alongside the other nine winners, in an archaeological ‘time capsule’.
The articles, which include an Illycaffé coffee machine, a Philips TV and a Sony Ericsson phone, will be sealed in a stainless steel container and buried in a public park in Italy.
The Gyrofocus has previously been exhibited in the museums of contemporary art in Bordeaux and Grenoble, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
The design contest, an annual ‘beauty prize for objects’, was launched in 2007 in Italy by the architect Sandro Silvi. Every year it gives away €10 000 (£9165) in gold coins to the public voter whose choices most closely match the final results.'

Strange it may seem to some that an object sating as far back as 1968 can still hold it's own amongst, and even beat, more contemporary designs. Just shows how classic design endures...

what do you think?

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