Opinion

Should design be conceptual or technical?

What makes a timeless design? Considering that all products exist for a purpose, what makes a particular one stands out from the crowd? Should there be a concept in mind right from the beginning, or should the end result form something timeless which carries you to an unexpected result?

Anglespoise is an English design brand with a long history. Herbert Terry and his three eldest sons established it in 1855, however it did not start as a lighting company. That definitely was not its original plan. 

In the1920’s, the company started to sell its own products, such as toast racks, bicycle saddles and spring clips.  It was not until 1931, when George Carwardine developed a theoretical concept for balancing weights using springs, cranks and levers, and then later when Terry developed the springs, that the very first Anglepoise lamp was created. 

The original four-spring version was not well-suited to the domestic market as it was too industrial, so George and Terry came up with a three-spring version, also known as 1227, a version consisting of 1003 degrees of movements.

The spring was the core. It was such a strong component but no one had used it like this before. That’s why incorporating it into a desk lamp was so innovative and refreshing. The technical aspects of the three-spring version were so complicated that even today you hardly see any three-spring lamps anywhere else.

For any design product, quality is the essence. It should stand the test of time to prove its lasting quality. In 1986, a team searching for the Loch Ness Monster found a WWII Wellington Bomber. It was raised from the water and its Anglepoise navigator’s light still worked!

Anglepoise has always been enthusiastic about co-operating with the art world. In 1985, the innovative sculptor, David Mack took 360 black Anglepoise lights and formed a large, glowing hand for an exhibition at the Oxford Museum of Modern Art.

In 2003, the highly respected product designer Kenneth Grange created the Type3, a classic in its own right. A Giant Anglepoise was produced for the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, and a created so much interest that it was put into volume production. In 2009, Anglepoise celebrated 75 years by reissuing the original 1227 design. It received recognition by being placed on a Royal Mail Stamp celebrating British Design classics including the Mini, Concorde, Routemaster, Polyprop chair and the Spitfire.

I believe any design brand should always seek new development ideas to ignite the sparks of the company by collaborating with renowned artists and designers.

Design should be an endless development, creating successful timeless products, always fulfilling the requirements of being conceptual and technical. However, we shouldn’t be forced to decide which comes first. Results are always unexpected and why shouldn’t they be? 

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