Sep 21, 2010

Innovative Product Design (2010 red dot award)

The spiral can be found everywhere in nature, in both animate and inanimate objects. An outstanding example is the shell of the marine creature called Nautilus, but fern leaves too first wind around the stem in a spiral shape, before growing further to unfold. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe even developed the idea of a spiral tendency in all vegetal forms, “according to which, in combination with the vertical tendency, each shape, each new leaf or petal of a plant obeys the same basic rule of metamorphosis.” The design of this eyewear series too is inspired by the shape of a spiral, translating it into a delicate design  it features sensuously appealing functionality, yet at the same time also presents a new approach towards the understanding and construction of eyewear.
The eyewear is focused around a spiral hinge of avant-garde appeal that is fascinating to almost any beholder  it makes the hinge look like a refined accessory, but actually it the basic design element. In their search for a form of reduced complexity, the designers came up with the idea of designing a hinge using the principles of helix geometry. This resulted in a dynamic form language for an eyewear that works completely without screws. The working principle of the helix-shaped hinge is convincing and attaching the temple follows a few logical steps: the spiral temple is simply attached to the front by placing the tip of the temple in the top hole in the front and turning it three times. Once in place, the design of the spiral-shaped hinge restricts the temple from opening more than 90 degrees, providing a safe fit. By translating a basic principle found in nature into a design shape, the helix series embodies a new and fascinating approach in eyewear design complexity reduced through a basic shape.

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