才華洋溢的時鐘設計師 George Nelson

「設計是對社會變革的本能回應。」

“Design is a response to social change”  —— George Nelson

 

於戰後復原期，西方社會開始進入消費主義時代，大眾對純粹具功能性的設計開始感到沉悶乏味。因此，不少作品開始以消費為目的，滲透不少文化符號。加上六十年代中期，辦公室愈來愈流行，加速了家具生產的重要性。

In the era of postwar recovery, when the consumerism lifestyle prevailed, the market started getting tired of purely functional design, so furniture designers put more effort into producing design-oriented artwork, the group of furniture that had some cultural implications. At the same time, people paid more attention to furniture production thanks to the increase in work offices.

 

 

擁有前衛造型的Ball Clock（彩球時鐘）便是例子之一，在手錶盛行的年代，George Nelson發現手錶的首要功能不再只是顯示時間，而是作為室內設計的裝飾元素。因此，一系列跳脫動感的鐘錶就此誕生。

With an avant-garde shape, the Ball Clock is an example. When wearing wristwatches was a norm among people, George Nelson analyzed how people used clocks and concluded that they read the time by discerning the relative position of the hands, which made the use of numbers unnecessary. Furthermore, since most people wore wristwatches, he assumed that clocks had become more of a decorative element for interiors. Thus, a series of dynamic timepieces were born.

 

而George Nelson的作品常以簡約流線見稱，經典作品棉花糖梳化使用自結皮聚氨酯發泡膠為材料，以圓形坐墊製成。雖然在1956年時製造成本高、銷售額低，但顛覆傳統梳化的設計，迅速成為當代設計的經典代表作。

The minimalist aesthetic and streamlined shape formed his design. Being regarded as one of the earliest “Pop Art” furniture designs, it was the transformation of a traditional sofa into a three-dimensional structure made of soft, colored cushioning. Although the manufacturing cost was high and the sales volume was low in 1956, the design that subverted the traditional sofa quickly became a classic masterpiece of contemporary design.

讀建築出身的George Nelson，三十年代投身作家及記者行業，直至1947年才開設自己的設計工作室。他常在設計前或過程中，記下與設計相關的反思內容，甚至延伸至設計師的社會責任。西方的設計風格，受到當時文化、政治經濟及技術發展所影響，他不斷撰文從廣泛的文化及經濟角度觀看設計領域。

George Nelson (1908-1986) was one of the most important American designers of the 20th century. After earning an architectural degree, Nelson began his career in the 1930s as an author and journalist before opening his own design office in 1947. The first collection commissioned by the furniture manufacturer Herman Miller marked the beginning of a collaboration that would last three decades and spawn numerous classics of furniture design.

 

棉花糖梳化、七彩繽紛的Ball Clock均屬美國二十世紀現代設計之父George Nelson的經典傑作。他不僅是設計師，同時是知名的建築師、作家、教師及雜誌記者。

Active as an architect, a product and exhibition designer and a writer, he was a leading voice in the discourse on design and architecture over several decades.

Products in this space:
Vitra - Ball Clock, Miniatures Marshmallow Sofa, Asterisk Clock

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