ALI, MUHAMMAD

American professional boxer, poet, first celebrityathlete, outspoken on religion and politics 1942People called him the greatest. Friendship... is not something you learn in school. But if you havent learned the meaning of friendship, you really havent learned anything. From a very young age, he was one of those people who just understood things. To study his life is like digging in a gold mine. To learn more, here is a nice documentary. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

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BARTHES, ROLAND
French philosopher, theorist, linguist & many more 1915-1980 Author of Camera Lucida and Mythologies He is dear to us for two reasons, two (very nice and) very intelligent books. Mythologiesis particularly interesting because it deals withmodern myths. We know quite a lot about classical mythology, but what about modern mythology? If you want to understand the 20th century, he is one to follow.

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BOWIE, DAVID
British rockstar, showman, businessman and cultural icon 1947A pop icon from the 1970s, many songs and headlines later, he is still running around as Mr. Cool. For us, he is quite an inspiration because of his Absolute Beginners song. Reminding us that we will always be absolute beginners. Even on the day we die, we will be absolute beginners (It sounds eerie, but think about it; it is a very nice condition.). He is no stranger to the world of business. Here the link to his company website.

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BUCKMINSTER FULLER, RICHARD

American futurist, inventor, theorist, designer 1895-1983 Inventor of the geodesic dome In reality, the geodesic dome was first invented by the German engineer Walther Bauersfeld 20 years earlier. But then Germany lost the war, was split in two and the domes design stayed in East Germany along with Bauersfeld. Over the last 50 years, Bucky has been incredibly influential. Check out the website of his institute. You will understand the scope of his influence. It is interesting to note that 99% of his ideas were not brought to fruition. Regardless, he is still relevant today. Sometimes the world of design works in curious ways. The people who get it right are considered boring, while the spotlight is put on the ones with imaginative yet quasi impossible visions.
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Dont fight forces, use them.

carneGie, dale
American writer 1888-1955 Inventor of the self-improvement model (aka self-help) You know, all those books you buy to learn how to become rich, famous, slim, fat or whatever comes to mind. The kind of books we openly dislike. But (always a but)... Carnegies How to Win Friends and Influence People is the mother-book, and it is extremely interesting to be read. We can forgive Carnegie for his silly title, because the content is very OK. If you want a shortcut, here is the Wikipedia entry, where you will get all you need to know and more.

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chelsea hotel
A New York City landmark built 1883-1885 Design (like any other human activity) relies on being at the right time at the right place. In the 20th Century, the Chelsea Hotel was one of THE places to be and this went on for some 50 years. The list of the people who stayed, lived, loved and died there is long and impressive. Question: what are the Chelsea Hotels of our age? How do we find them? (How do we get there?) Anyway, here is the link to the (unofficial) blog. Browse and discover its legacy!

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cocteau, Jean
French poet, artist, designer, filmmaker, novelist & many many more 1889-1963 Lets just say he represents what we imagine is a contemporary designer. Amazingly, he understood the concept 100 years before us. Too many things can be mentioned. You can start with his drawings. In any case, here is a website about his life and career. Amid the many things he did, we like the Saint Pierre des Pecheurs chapel. Indeed, he is so dear to us that he is featured on one of our postcards stamps.

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desiGn as art
Book written by Bruno Munari, Italian artist, designer, and inventor 1971 To make things easy is very difficult. To make things difficult is very easy. We couldnt agree more! An absolute must read! Munaris thoughts, ideas, drawings! Superlike! Actually, we have different opinions on the subject (design is design and art is art), but the book is so inspirational that we are happy to suggest such a nice read. Here is a review of the book itself.

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dim sum
A special Chinese food (Cantonese cuisine, from Guangdong province) served in small baskets used to steam the food itself To cook dim sum implies to make a stack of multiple baskets. It is quite tricky to do if you have no expertise in the matter. It is a technique that overlaps design with cooking and produces fantastic results. The baskets that steam the food are incredible pieces of anonymous design. The cart used to serve the food in the restaurant is another impressive device. Here is the official Hong Kong web guide on dim sum, and here you can find out even more. When cooking, design is inherently in the kitchen (and on the table). Have you ever thought about it? 10 000 years of human history are embedded in the tools we use to cook and eat. Such an interesting concept for the design-oriented mind!
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doGon PeoPle
A people from West Africa, Mali They are extremely interesting to us because of their religious traditions, masks, dances and sculptures. And we cannot forget their architecture! Tourism is destroying all of this cultural heritage (but thats another story). Once again, we have an example of things being very old and simultaneously very contemporary. Contemporary design does not necessarily mean made now. Contemporary design means relevant now. Here is a nice website. And here a is second one with an impressive collection of visuals. For more, here is a link to a video where you can witness a ritual: music, dance, masks and traditional clothing.

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eames, charles and raY

American couple, design superheroes of the 20th century 1907-1978 / 1912-1988 Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se. In their life, they did everything you could possibly imagine: design, architecture, graphics, fine arts, films etc. To list all there is to explore would be endless. For the most incredible journey ever start with a short (less than 10 minutes) documentary called Power of 10! Here is a link to their entry on Design Museum Archive. Here is their website. They are flying first-class in our zeppelin. They have our postcards stamp of approval.
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edwards, bettY
American art teacher 1926Author of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain If you want to learn how to draw (or know some very interesting fact about how our brain works), get the book. It is one of the best how-tos ever written. To start, here is the website. Enjoy!

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flowchart
Diagram A flowchart organizes a process in different steps. Each step is normally represented by a box. Each box is connected to others by arrows. Since design is foremost a process, the procedure illustrated by such a diagram is key to us designers. The flowchart is a way of visualizing, of thinking. Here is the link to an article where you have all kind of free on-line tools to create flowcharts.

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food desiGninG
Book by Mart Guix, Catalan designer 2010 A look at food from the perspective of a designer In case you cant find the book, you can get an idea by going to this link. We like this type of design: humble, easy to understand, intelligent, humourous and ready to play with such serious subjects as money and business.

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fukasawa, naoto
Japanese designer 1956One of the most influential contemporary designers Im not thinking about this pen when Im writing with it. Rather, its when you least think about it that the pen can be held most naturally. The list of things he did is too long to mention. Check out MUJIs CD player. Its a good introduction to his work. To learn more about him, here is the link to his website and here is a link to a nice interview, on designboom webzine (a fantastic source of quality stuff about whats going on in the design world today). Some years ago, together with another smart fellow named Jasper Morrison, he did an exhibition (with a book) called Super Normal. Sensation of the ordinary. Its worth a look. Enjoy!
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Gibson
Paul Les Guitar 1952 Design and music are one and the same. Without design (or, if you prefer, craftsmanship), you wouldnt have any musical instrument to play. Already in Ancient Greece and China, the musician needed an artisan to build his musical tools. This was true then and it is still now. Said differently, the musician, without his tool/ instrument, doesnt go very far. We have Paul Les Gibson guitar, but it could have been a violin by Stradivari or Jimi Hendrixs Fender Stratocaster. Contemporary (or traditional) design can be found in the most unexpected places. By the way, if you check on YouTube, youll see almost 300 000 videos related to Gibsons guitar. Quite impressive, isnt it?
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GuiX, Mart
Catalan designer 1964A designer who defines himself as an ex-designer There are several products in which the shape is not important and the function is more important. I think the way to do that is working basically with ideas, so that the shapes and materials become anecdotal. I am only interested in food, as I consider it is a mass consumption product and I like the fact that it is a product that disappears - by ingestion - and is transformed into energy. His website is like watching fireworks. He has a particular fondness for any kind of food. You can learn more about him reading his page on the Design Museum website.
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historY of the world in 100 objects, a

Joint project of BBC Radio 4 and the British Museum, curated by British Museum director Neil MacGregor If you want to understand where we are today, you better understand what has happened in the last 10000 years (otherwise we wont understand much). If you have a lot of time, read the book. If you dont have much time, browse the projects website. If you dont have time at all, read a concise version of the whole thing on Wikipedia. Watch out. The quality of the information you get from these sources is radically different. This concept applies to everything. It is up to you to understand when it is time to skim the surface, and when it is time to dive deep into the real meaning of things. Be careful not to drown! Remember to come back to the surface for some air!
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hockneY, david
English painter 1937Art has to move you and design does not, unless its a good design for a bus. I draw flowers every day and send them to my friends so they get fresh blooms every morning. We love the way he paints, the way he smokes, the way he sketches. His swimming pools are so cool, not to mention his sketchbooks of his travels. Definitely, a superhero! If you want to learn how to sketch, go to his drawings from the 1960s.

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HonG konG
Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China We like Hong Kong, because it represents fairly well contemporary design. A hub of energy full of contradictions, this land by the sea has created an ambiguous mix of cultures and has set up all kinds of short-circuits. This hybridization didnt happen in the last 10 years. It happened in the last 500 years, a very long process. If you want to see a movie about Hong Kong, Ridley Scotts Blade Runner is probably the best depiction on film of the city. Start your engines, your engines of eternal energy that is! The movies was shot in 1982, and presents Los Angeles in the future. In reality, the movie showcases Hong Kong as it is now (an ever fleeting now).

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Hotel california
Song by The Eagles 1976 On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim I had to stop for the night Actually, it is not a hotel, it is a song. Very nice. The way this hotel is described is very particular. If you like ghost stories, this song is for you.

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huXleY, aldous
Writer, thinker 1894-1963 Author of Brave New World I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself. Maybe this world is another planets hell. A pretty good start, eh? In 1932, he wrote Brave New World, a dystopian novel in which he describes with an incredible accuracy todays world. He understood our contemporary world some 100 years before anyone else. A cool chap. Lets all bow down to Mr. Huxley. Here, you will get all you need to know about him. Here is the link to a Brave New World.
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ideo
Design firm Founded in 1991 by David Kelley It is probably the most important design firm in the world. Or, said differently, with more than 500 people working in 12 cities all over the world, the firm defines the American way of designing at its best. In fact, they would rather say they are an innovation consultancy. Go see for yourself. Here is the companys website. The Power of Design, a Business Week article, explains the way the work. Before moving on, go see Open Ideo, one of their latest projects. They described it as the following, OpenIDEO is an open innovation platform. Join our global community to solve big challenges for social good.

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instaGram
Social network Launched in 2010 Its one of the most popular social networks around (we are writing in 2013 and we dont know how long such a thing will last). Basically, its about taking photos and creating connections with others via photos and comments (the description is very lame, we are totally aware). Anyway, if you have a smartphone, the simplest thing to do is to download the free application and start fiddling around. Instagram offers an excuse to go around with your eyes always open, an essential quality for any designer.

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itsukushima shrine
Shinto shrine With its tori (entrance gate) on water, it is located off an island near Hiroshima. Water is a timeless ingredient for any cool design. Listen and be inspired.

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ive, jonathan
English designer, lead designer at Apple 1967Theres no learning without trying lots of ideas and failing lots of times He is behind all the cool stuff made by Apple in the last fifteen years. A conceptual disciple of the great Dieter Rams (conceptual in the sense that he never studied or worked with/for him), he started to work at Apple in 1992. His first success came with the iMac. Since then, all major products (iPod, iPhone, iPad, iOS 7, etc.) are of his hand. You can read more at Design Museum Archive. And here is a nice short text by Ive on Dieter Rams.

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Klee, Paul
German-Swiss painter, artist, Teacher at Bauhaus school 1879-1940 A drawing is simply a line going for a walk. If we have to mention one artist we like very much, Paul Klee is one of the first names that come to mind. His work has mesmerizing depth. Check him out: his life, his journeys, his work.

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lanG, robert
American physicist, origami artist and theorist 1961He had the idea to overlap traditional origami techniques with mathematics and computer science. It is a great demonstration of what happens when you generate short-circuits from apparently remote disciplines. Here you can see Mr. Land at Ted explaining: The math and magic of origami. Isnt it fantastic?

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lao, tZu

(a.k.a. Laozi in Chinese)

Philosopher of ancient China 6th century BC A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step One of the most important philosophers in the history of human kind. If you read his books or his quotes, each of them is a full course on contemporary design (or, if you prefer, contemporary life). Very impressive. He knew and he understood so much... One book you should try to read is his Tao Te Ching (also known as the Book of Tao). A lot of wisdom there. Quite short, but extremely deep and mind-boggling.

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maPPlethorPe, robert
American photographer 1946-1989 He crossed our paths as a young gentleman in New York when he met the young Patti Smith. Here the link to his foundation website.

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mari, enZo
Famous Italian designer, still active in Milan 1932His design is smart, intelligent and nasty. We referred to his calendars various times here and there. Here isPerpetual Calendar for you to see. There is a lot of stuff on him on YouTube. Here the tutorial on how to assemble a chair. He looks as a very nice and gentle old grandpa. He is not. He is one of the meanest characters around (if you are intelligent and you understand things, quite often you get to be mean). If you want to see an impressive show, get to see a lecture of him (or, even better, a panel discussion). Satisfaction is guaranteed. Another project you should check out is Autoprogettazione. Mesmerizingly intelligent. It was 1974, but it could have been 2074.
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mask
What is a mask? You must know. Why do we like masks so much to include them in our encyclopedia? Masks are some of the earliest objects of design ever made by humans. They were made for protection, for ceremonial and performance purposes. A mask allows design to become part of the ritual and storytelling act. This was true 10.000 years ago and still is today. Here, for instance, you have the link to the oldest mask ever found. And here you have Saul Steinbergs masks (a nice way to start your personal trip into masks).

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Morrison, jasPer
English product and furniture designer 1959Another of those contemporary design superstars. In his case, fame and success have been well-earned: he is one of the most interesting characters around. The list of the relevant works would be quite long. Best thing to do is to check the website of his company (Jasper Morrison LTD), or read the entry about him in the Design Museum archive. Also nice, the interview he gave to designboom webzine some years ago. Amid his many projects, one thing we liked very much was this exhibition (and later a book) called: Super Normal. Sensation of the ordinary. If you have time, check it out: it is another book worth a read. Lots of food for thought in those pages.

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Munari, bruno
Italian designer, influential visual artist, inventor, architect 1907-1988 To make things easy is very difficult. To make things difficult is very easy. (we couldnt agree more!). A designer is a planner with a sense for aesthetics. Always busy borrowing from the fields of poetry, graphic design, industrial design, he creates using a child-like language. He also learns by doing, a.k.a. kinesthetic learning, with incredible tactility. Luckily for us, there is a very nice website where all of his work is properly archived. Another useful link is the one leading to Corraini publishing house (Munari made hundreds of fantastic books throughout his life and they have them all).
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Museum
A museum 2013Its a new museum in New York City, located in Chinatown. It is a small as a matchbox, and it is one of the nicest projects we have seen in 2013. It has been defined as the Museum of Banality. If you cant go to New York City to check it out, here the link to its website, and here a link to a nice article in the New York Times.

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Neue NationalGalerie
A museum 1968 In architecture field, the 20th c. has some superheroes (think to Marvel Superheroes, it is pretty much the same). One of them was Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (think of the Thing out of the Fantastic Four). He was Mr. Boooummmbooooouummm, Mr. #lessismore (or, if you prefer, Mr. #godisindetail). In any case, towards the end of his life, he made this museum in Berlin where you find the 20th c. squeezed into one stark room. If contemporary architecture were a religion, this building may well have been its temple.

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noGuchi, isamu
Japanese American artist, designer, landscape architect 1904-1988 Appreciate the moment. He is the one who started to add electricity to the traditional Japanese paper lamps. Akari (bright) was the name he gave to them. The rest is design history. The website of the Noguchi Foundation is very nice. Check it out and you will find inspiration! If you are in New York City, go see his workshop / studio (now a museum) in Queens. The sculpture garden is very lovely and special. He is very dear to us!

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oriGami
Japanese, traditional art of paper folding 17th c. Typical example of things we like: very easy to learn, very difficult to master. Although a traditional art, in the last decades it has been combined with other amazing fields, putting together traditional wisdom and computer science. In a different way, if you think that origami is something traditional, and you dont understand why we cross origami in our journey through contemporary design, here is something for you: Robert Lang at Ted, explaining The math and magic of origami. Isnt it fantastic? Origami Instructions is the website we appreciate the most on the subject (of course, feel free to find better ones...).

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PaPanek, victor
Austrian-born American design theorist, designer, philosopher, educator, ecologist 1923-1998 All men are designers All that we do, almost all the time, is design, for design is basic to all human activity. Design is composing an epic poem, executing a mural, painting a masterpiece, writing a concerto. Design is the conscious effort to impose meaningful order. An ecologist 50 years before anyone else would have the slightest hint about ecology, he promoted responsible design. Here a short text written by him (in his book: Design for the Real World). We can take this as one of Design 101 manifestos.
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QuiPu

(a.k.a. talking knots)

From the Andes in South America some 5000 years ago Imagine a necklace with thousand of knotted strings. Imagine using this tool to count, to keep track of time, and to do an impressive number of things. This is a quipu. One of the most fascinating devices invented by humankind, the quipu was used by the Incas, local people from the Andes. Sometimes to find inspiration and interesting things, you have to take a time machine. Contemporary does not mean made less than 10 years ago. It means interesting today. Quipu necklaces are extremely contemporary, dont you agree?

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raY, man
American avant-garde artist, painter, photographer, inventor of the 20th c. 1890-1976 Inspiration then information; each validates the other. Not to be confused with Rain Man (quite a nice movie, indeed). Here we are talking about Man Ray. So many things to link, refer to, and explain. To start, here is the link to the Man Ray Trust website. To start, check these two works: Cadeau (1921) and LEnigme dIsidore Ducasse (1920). Next search Google Image withMan Ray Photography. Pretty cool stuff, isnt it? He also got to be on our special stamp series!
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sasaki, sadako
A Japanese girl who developed leukemia because of the Hiroshima bombing 1943-1955 Upon the Japanese tradition, if you are to make one thousand origami cranes, you make a wish and the gods will help you. Unfortunately she died before finishing, but then, her friends completed the task. Ever since, if you go to her memorial, you will see thousands and thousands of cranes made by people from all over the world to honour her, and to remember the tragedy of the war, the A-bomb.

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smith, Patti
American artist, singer, songwriter, poet, guru, visual artist and many more 1946In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth. Apart from composing and singing beautiful stuff, she knows a lot about design. For instance, here is a precious link where she explains a couple of things to the youth. Here the link to hear Horses, her first album (1975). Punk-rock at its best! She is so cool that she is featured on one of the postcards stamps.

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steinberG, saul
Jewish-Romanian born American cartoonist, illustrator and graphic designer 1914-1999 Born from a Jewish family in Romania, he lived most of his life in New York. Even if you dont know his name, you might have seen his well-know View of the World from 9th Avenue. Here, a very nice link to start exploring his masks. Steinberg pops up here and there in our journey.

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suPer normal: sensations of the ordinarY

Book written by Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa 2007 If you dont like to read paper books, design is for you. Although every year thousand and thousand books are published on this subject, most of them are trash. Once a good book is printed, we must read it. Rather than explaining ourselves, here we go with the description from its authors: The designers have compiled 204 everyday objects in search of super normal design: alongside examples of anonymous design like the Swiss Rex vegetable peeler or a simple plastic bag, there are design classics like Marcel Breuers tubular steel side table, Dieter Rams 606 shelving system, or Joe Colombos Optic alarm clock of 1970... (keep reading at this link)

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swiss armY knife

Object early versions from 1880s If we were to represent what is design in one single object, this knife would be one of our first choice. A tool, a multipurpose tool. Something you keep in your pocket to change the world (and its most minimal detail). It has become a cult object. If you carry one in your pocket, you become part of a secret society (with all the positive and negative connotations). Relevant fact: In the design world, Switzerland rules. Its given. If something is Swiss, we pay respect and nod our heads.

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T-shaPed diaGram
Diagram The vertical part of the T are things you know well and deep, while the horizontal part of the T is the skill to go broad, dealing with other people carrying other kinds of knowledge. The best person to ask about this is Tim Brown, the CEO of IDEO, one of the most important design companies in the world. Read this interview on the subject. Lots of interesting stuff.

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YounG, neil
Canadian singer-songwriter 1945One of few who managed to maintain a successful career, a nice life and a sharp mind. Here is the link to his website. You can start to listen to his recent Dead Man theme song. Next you can go to Harvest, an early album of his.

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