A Needle in a Haystack - Finding Culture in LA

18th December, 2009. I'm in a world far removed from the one in which I usually reside. East of my current position is a tranquil zen garden; to my west is cacti-guarded desert land. I can move swiftly from tropical surroundings to an Australian outback, to a forest consisting of British oaks. If I inform you that I'm in Los Angeles, you may hazard a guess that I'm visiting the studios. The locations I've just described are artificial, man-made. WRONG.

On my last full day in LA, I decided to brave the reasonably long bus ride from Downtown to Pasedena, in order to do something in the city that didn't involve eating, shopping, or Disney. Having said that, the Huntington Botanical Gardens were almost as fantastical as Universal Studios (albeit a kind of fantastical that didn't involve Spongebob and Shrek roaming the grounds).

Check out some of the snaps I took:





Henry Huntington began his garden project in the early twentieth century. On his newly-acquired ranch, he envisaged a place where Californians could see plants that weren't native to their state, their country, or even their continent. The Botanical Gardens have thrived; they now contain over 14 000 different kinds of plants in a range of different areas.

My already fabulous day trip was further enhanced by a browse of the Huntington Library. Not satisfied with getting hold of every flower or tree on the planet worth having, Huntington was an avid book collector. His vast collection includes the Gutenburg Bible, which he won at auction in 1911 for the unimaginable sum of $50 000 - the most ever bid for a book at the time - and early editions of much of Shakespeare's work.



The Huntington family's mansion also encased cultural delights (add art to the list of 'exotic' collectables). Additionally, the Huntington complex houses some great exhibitions; I could blab for hours about the posters in the American litography exhibition, or the history of the Harlem Renaissance, etc. etc.

If you ever find yourself in LA and you're itching for something more profound than the Hollywood Walk of Fame or frozen yoghurt, I urge you to visit this place. A library, an art collection and botanical gardens on one site - truly not to be missed.

Less and More

A fortnight ago I visited the Design Museum by Shad Thames for the first time, and was fortunate enough to come across the exhibition on Dieter Rams. From the '50s to the '90s, Rams designed hundreds of products for Braun, ranging from record players to the razors that have become synonymous with the brand.



I believe the design ethos of Dieter Rams can be summed up in two words: simplicity and functionality. The industrial designer strove to create products that were functional rather than fashionable, that would stand the test of time. To design a coffee maker that would sit contentedly on a counter-top for decades, devoid of any problems, was the ultimate aim for this man. He was not one for frills. Having marvelled at some of Rams's products at the exhibition for a good half-hour, I can honestly report back that there was not an inch of superfluity in sight. Even the use of colour was kept to a minimum. Glimpses of red text on a turntable to denote a differentiation between sets of functions, the green of the 'on' button... If an additional colour did not serve a purpose, it would not find its way into a Dieter Rams design.




Despite his commitment to simplicity, Rams succeeded in creating a strong aesthetic - an aesthetic so appealing that it heavily influenced Jonathon Ives, designer of the iMac, iPod and iPhone. Comparing the classic white iPod and one of Dieter's creations, the Braun T3, you can't help but notice the remarkable similiarity of the two products. So it seems that Rams was both an inspiration and decades ahead of his time.



I shall leave you with Dieter Rams's ten principles for good design. It seems awfully lazy to copy out a list in my first ever post here, but the principles well-represent the mind that thought them up.

◦Good design is innovative.
◦Good design makes a product useful.
◦Good design is aesthetic.
◦Good design helps us to understand a product.
◦Good design is unobtrusive.
◦Good design is honest.
◦Good design is durable.
◦Good design is consequent to the last detail.
◦Good design is concerned with the environment.
◦Good design is as little design as possible.

"Weniger, aber besser" - "Less, but better."