{"id":1553,"date":"2016-02-11T16:38:42","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T16:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/?p=1553"},"modified":"2016-02-11T16:47:26","modified_gmt":"2016-02-11T16:47:26","slug":"a-valentine-to-designers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/a-valentine-to-designers\/","title":{"rendered":"A Valentine to Designers"},"content":{"rendered":"

One night last week, as I was chopping vegetables for dinner, in the midst of wherever my mind was wandering, it occurred to me that\u00a0the knife I was using somehow made a job I’ve done a thousand times\u00a0recognizably\u00a0more satisfying and even pleasant. I’m not waxing poetic here – most dinner prep\u00a0is a routine chore, but it\u00a0was an “aha moment”\u00a0to be\u00a0aware that I had subconsciously reached for that particular knife because of the enjoyment derived\u00a0in\u00a0using it.<\/p>\n

\"Drying\"

Tools Drying<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a92016 Elizabeth Fram<\/p><\/div>\n

It’s definitely not fancy or expensive (I actually got it for free with the stamps they give out for every $10 spent during a grocery store promotion). But the point is, despite its low cost it caught my attention in a way my other, “better” knives never have. And as I chopped, observing more closely\u00a0while\u00a0appreciating the heft and balance\u00a0of it, I realized that the credit belonged\u00a0to the knife’s design.<\/p>\n

I invite you to take a moment to appreciate a tool you rely upon every day. As you’re poised to put it to use, reflect upon how difficult, or at least more challenging, that job might be without it.<\/p>\n

\"CanOpener\"

Can Opener<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a92016 Elizabeth Fram<\/p><\/div>\n

One has to honor the brainpower that has gone into designing the art supplies, instruments, utensils, gadgets, apps, etc. that make our everyday tasks easier and more efficient. For example, a pair of scissors is an object of wonder when you consider the\u00a0combination of\u00a0purpose with ergonomics. It’s a mighty\u00a0amount of creativity that can design an object that not only meets a specific use, yet which is also beautiful, independent of its function.<\/p>\n

\"Two\"

Two<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a92016 Elizabeth Fram<\/p><\/div>\n

The next logical line of thinking was what worthy\u00a0subjects\u00a0tools make\u00a0as I keep chipping away at learning to draw\/paint, which in turn reminded me of Jim Dine’s<\/a> prints of tools from the 70’s, published in this monograph<\/a>, one of the first art books I paid for with my own money.<\/p>\n

To explore this idea further, check out Design Milk<\/a>, a website that centers on all aspects of design. This quick article<\/a> (mostly photos) on abstracted kitchen tools is a good prompt for thinking more about about the marriage of design with\u00a0use. (And as a side note, its column “Friday Five”<\/a>\u00a0interviews contemporary designers about\u00a0their top five inspirations — definitely worth a peek).<\/p>\n

\"Together\"

Together \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong> \u00a92016 Elizabeth Fram<\/p><\/div>\n

So look around your space and notice which tools make a difference in your creative practice, whatever it may be. And then join me in a collective nod of gratitude and admiration for the designers who have made it their life’s work to dream up the things we take for granted, but which make such a difference, practically and aesthetically, in our day-to-day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One night last week, as I was chopping vegetables for dinner, in the midst of wherever my mind was wandering, it occurred to me that\u00a0the knife I was using somehow made a job I’ve done a thousand times\u00a0recognizably\u00a0more satisfying and even pleasant. I’m not waxing poetic here – most dinner prep\u00a0is a routine chore, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21],"tags":[178,179,177,176],"class_list":["post-1553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discussion","tag-design-milk","tag-designers","tag-jim-dine","tag-tools"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5kO5z-p3","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1553"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1581,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1553\/revisions\/1581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}