design
Jilber Najem and
design
Jilber Najem and

One of the most intelligent case studies in design is the Chinese tea cup. They’re made without handles simply because if it’s too hot to touch, it’s too hot to drink.
Humans naturally want to add more. Add a cardboard sleeve, add a warning on the outside of the cup, add a handle. The result of all these things never cools down the actual contents.
... See moreSottsass came up in a modernist design world that valued rigidity, utility, and simplicity; asking designers to ask themselves what is necessary and drop everything else. As famed industrial designer Dieter Rams has said, “Good design is as little design as possible.” Sottsass epitomizes basically the complete opposite of that.
Sottsass’s work made the case for the necessity of the superfluous. Expressive use of color, form, and decorative elements are elemental to design done well. In the modern era, design is leaning into sensuality and excitement too.
Appealingly asymmetrical
