- Hey, guys, it's Morna.
And in this video, I'm gonna be talking about
industrial design documentaries.
And I wanna recommend seven different documentaries
for anyone either who is an industrial designer
or anyone who wants to learn about industrial design.
Today is actually the 1st of January,
and so I would like to wish you all the best in 2019.
I hope that it brings everything that you wish for.
So let's get into the video.
(energetic, bouncy music)
Number one is The Genius of Design.
It's from the BBC, and it's a five-part series
that looks at the history of industrial design.
So if you are looking for a good kind of overview
of the history of design, I would
definitely recommend watching this.
And my favorite episode is Episode Three
which looks at the Second World War.
It talks about the STEN gun,
the Mosquito plane, and the Tiger tank.
But you should definitely watch all episodes,
so moving along.
So number two is called Design is Work
and it's by Konstantin Grcic.
Now if you are not familiar with his work,
I'm going to put some images of things that he's designed.
He's been designing furniture and products for,
I don't know, a long time.
He's put out many, many different chairs
and pieces of furniture and lighting.
He's a designer who I really respect.
I really like his work, and he's done many things.
And you'll probably recognize some of these images
that I'm putting on the screen.
What I really enjoyed seeing in this video
was how he worked, but also the different,
how he made models.
Very quick to make models, make things physical and real
and then kind of respond to, I guess,
the physicality and size and form and you know.
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And that was really nice to watch.
Also just the different ways that he made models,
like the different materials.
Like for that alone I would watch this video.
Number three is called Eames: The Architect & The Painter.
It's about Charles and Ray Eames.
Charles was an architect,
but I think he never actually got a degree.
And Ray, his wife, was a painter who actually
I believe that she trained with Hans Hoffman.
And they are a very well-known,
very well-recognized mid-century American designers.
They're probably most well-known
for their molded plywood and fiberglass furniture.
But they did a ton of other things.
Their studio, they had a whole big studio
with a bunch of different employees,
and they interview the people that worked
at their studio because they worked on everything
from photography to interiors to graphics.
They did all the graphic design for their furniture,
and it's beautiful.
Highly recommend looking at some of those graphics,
some of those ads for their furniture.
They also did films and also toys
and multimedia exhibits.
They did some really large-scale exhibitions.
Whenever I think of Charles and Ray Eames,
I always think of this kind of joyful, playful spirit.
You can see it in their work.
And there's also an element, and you get the sense,
especially from this video, that they were always
trying to learn and discover new things about the world.
And it's this kind of exciting way to live, (laughs)
like to get excited about learning
and discovering new things.
So, yeah, that's number three.
Number four is a film by Charles and Ray Eames.
It's called the Powers of Ten.
And essentially it's about life, scale, and perspective.
And I think that it's a rite of passage
for any designer to watch.
And I'll leave it at that.
Number five is called Danish Furniture.
And it's free here on YouTube.
I'll put a link somewhere.
I chose this one because it features two
of my favorite designers, Poul Kjaerholm and Arne Jacobsen.
Poul Kjaerholm, I think has made,
the most beautiful stool ever,
and I'll put a photograph of it here.
And I really love that twist in the legs.
It's not just kind of an aesthetic detail.
It also gives strength to the part and yeah.
So that's why.
So I could be biased, but that's why.
Number six is called Objectified, and it's by Gary Hustwit.
And this is a classic industrial design documentary.
If you have not watched it, you are missing out.
It interviews many kind of big name, famous
industrial designers, and it's worth watching.
Number seven is called Coda.
And it's with Ryuichi Sakamoto.
It's a documentary about him.
Now this is the only documentary
that isn't directly about an industrial designer.
And the reason why I wanted to include this one on the list
is A, it's a really great documentary,
but B, I think really interesting to see
how this musician, to see his and watch his
creative process and how he uses the environment,
the external environment in his creative process.
If you are not familiar with Ryuichi Sakamoto,
he is a musician who has scored
some Oscar-winning films.
Most recently, he scored
The Revenant with Leonardo DiCaprio.
He also scored The Last Emperor.
And my personal favorite is Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,
which was a film with David Bowie.
And there's just this one piano piece that he did
that I just really love.
He's also, I think he's acted in some films
and maybe modeled for Yohji Yamamoto.
And he was also in Yellow Magic Orchestra which is I guess
you would say an electronic technopop band.
And I'm curious to hear, what are your favorite
industrial design documentaries?
What would you recommend?
Put it down below in the comments,
and we'll see you guys next time.