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Remy Labesque on Objects Being "Aged to Perfection"

By Rain Noe - May 5, 2011

in Object Culture

I absolutely love how the finish has been worn off on the iPhone and Canon camera posted by Remy Labesque on frogdesign's Design Mind blog. In his article, titled "Aged to Perfection," Labesque makes the intelligent point that

...Consumer products are 'new' for a very brief moment when they are first removed from the packaging, but spend the great majority of their useful lives as 'used' products in the process of decay.... Aging with dignity is a criteria designers should recognize in their efforts. I'm thinking of a future when products are designed not for the brief moment when they are new, but for when they have been aged to perfection.

Hear hear. And until that day comes, the "physically-worn tech objects" thing is begging for a Flickr page.

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Richard

13 years ago

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It is the memory of actual in service use, and personal value through function that is left visually and tactilely - I love that it's mine, I use it and I trust it feeling with great designed objects.
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slippyfish

13 years ago

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Ditto on the Star Wars look. It was one of the mis-fires on the newer trilogy, that everything was shiny and new, and didn't have that same dirty atmosphere.

The book "Appliance House" from Ben Nicholson is about this myth of product perfection.
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Eric

13 years ago

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George Lucas Figured it out in 1977, StarWars! Everything was WORN and USED, R2D2 was worn out and and so was 3cP0, the land speeder was all beat up, Well worn is the way I like my things. If they have wear on them then they must be pretty good products and show that they are used daily. Products with no wear have probably been in a drawer and were not that good to begin with.
I wish cars were that way from the factory then I would never have to wash them!
Run with it!
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Brennan

13 years ago

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I definitely agree!

And not just tech objects, Eames wanted the leather in his lounge chairs to get softer as it aged "like a well worn baseball mitt" and it really does. If anything, it's probably better worn in than out-of-the-box.

It's a shame design isn't made to last long after the shine wears away (if it gets that far, even) these days...
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