[Canadien errant]

Saw this in making the news rounds, thought it might be of interest.

Not my cup of coffee, I like the electronics component look, Although this concept piece is modern looking in style, this seems also retro in that it is reminiscent of the prevailing early 20s -60s design philosophy of masking everything from phonographs to TVs as "fine" furniture.



"One of the designs from Becker's company looks more like a 1960s liquor cabinet than a PC, with its ovoid shape, chrome touches and built-in cupholder that doubles as a remote caddy. Becker said the design is intended to help PC makers start thinking of Media Center products as equal parts furniture and high-tech gadget."





http://news.com.com/Is+that+a+Media+...l?tag=nefd.top

 

[Delvo]

This reminds me of a few custom-furniture ideas I came up with for computers, such as a "computer desk" that would be roughly half as "deep" as a normal desk but taller, like a modified bookshelf (in fact I might have made one by modifying a bookshelf myself instead of starting from scratch, if I'd made one at all), since it only needs to be deep enough now for a keyboard and an LCD panel intead of a CRT box... and LCD panels with decorative wooden or brass borders like a picture frame.

 

[Canadien errant]

You know the article stimulated my interest, there is a place for fine design, to match room decor, personal taste, to dress up a PC in an appropriate manner to blend in, if not enhance ones' surroundings. My prejudice is that in past, say, especially the early phonographs going into the early color TV's that were marketed more in terms of home decor appeal than functionality and performance. As much, once the tech functional look became prevalent, again, that look became again more important than the message. If one could have both, say in a formal or semi formal design pleasing style, it would be the best of both worlds, Maybe it was the MS involvement, functionality and performance questions taking a second seat to looks (and say something like eye candy GUI) come to mind.