3 Non Web Designers

Hundertwasser
Hundertwasser is one my favourite artists whos paintings and architecture I have loved for years. His work includes painting, tapestry, architecture, graphic and ecology. The work that I was first drawn to was his paintings which at first may seem quite child like but you find yourself drawn into the imagary he creates with his busy compositions and you realise how intricate each piece of work he produces is.

"I should like, and I do it too quite instinctively, to live an example, live an example to people, paint for them a paradise that each may have, he need only grasp it". Hundertwasser, (Venice, 1975)

His architecture resembles that of Guadi in the style of the free flowing lines and the loose organics of the overal effect. He manages to bring his images of paradise to life with these fantasy like buildings that look like they should not have been made into being. A lot of his buildings also encourperate his hypersensitivity to his surroundings, he is a strong ecologist and therefore we see many plants growing in, out of and around the buildings he creates.

I was lucky enough to visit one of his achitecture projects The Kawakawa Public Toilets in New Zealand featured a wall of Glass Bottles which the artist uses in his home.

Hundertwasser went on to also create some stamps which was a great interest of his:

He Says "The stamp is an important. Although very small in format, it carries a message. Stamps are a measure of the culture of a country. This tiny, rectangular piece of paper links the hearts of sender and reciever. It is a bridge between peoples and nations. The stamp knows no borders. It reaches us even in prosons, asylums and hospitals and wherever we may be on earth...A stamp which is not mailed on a letter is no stamp. It has never lived, it is a sham. It is like a fish who has never swum, a bird who has never flown...This precious piece of art reaches everyone as a gift from afar. A stamp should be a testimony to culture, beauty and the creative spirit of mankind.

14 Febuary 1990

Hundertwasser's work appeals to me by the colorful world that he exsposes to people, how he seems to breath a different kind of life into his paintings. His style is representative of the romantics but is also representative of itself in that his style is so very unique and recognisable. It is this uniqueness and the fact that his stlye is his own without any pretence. His images are not photogenic nor do they have any desire to be, they are what they are and they do it well. As a designer I could only hope to create a style that is my own, without any need to impress or delight but to simply be what is it - Mine.

James Dyson 

James Dyson has not only designed vacuum cleaners for the modern home, he was the develper of cyclone technology which created vacuum cleaners that filters dust, efficiently removes dirt from air flow and never looses its suction.


Dyson made a list about what is was wrong with vacuum cleaners and is working his way through those problems one by one. These problems were simple things like a handle on the top to carry the machine, a hose that would reach to the top of the stairs, problems that other vacuum cleaner designers didnt solve. Dyson also puts a lot back into the industry by holding the annual James Dyson Awards through the James Dyson Foundation which inspires young engineer designers to create without worrying about making mistakes. James Dyson says thet failure is the starting point as with failure you can understand where you went wrong and build on that to improve "keep on failing - it works" 

He made over 5000 prototypes for one of his designs which meant over 5000 mistakes.


This mentality of design is very refreshing for young designers as it lets them know that it is ok to make a mistake and move on which takes away a lot of pressure. I also think that he has marketed himself as a designer working for the poeple and their everyday needs which is great selling point. As some one who works in an electrical store I will happily sell dysons to any customer that comes in for a new vacuum cleaner because it is a product that I believe in from consept and right through to the final product. It would be great if in my career my work was seen with this kind of mentality, that people would think "you cant go wrong with a Sam Kirk product". Also take a look at James Dyson's Wrong Garden.

Alan Lee and John Howe
I have chosen to include Alan Lee and John Howe who are both illustrators, Alan Lee did the original book art for Lord of the Rings and they both worked on the conseptual work for the movie. I thought about them when writing about my 3 non-web designers because they had to go to what was the location for 'The Shire' and draw the landscape that was in front of them but with Hobbiton included. Which is a very creative thing to do, they were taking what was real and turning it into something completely un-real but believable. It was from their conseption drawings that the shire was created by Director Peter Jackson.