I was listed on the online biography that said I was a design missionary. That's a bit lofty; I'm really more of something like a street walker. I spend a lot of time in urban areas looking for design, and studying design in the public sector. I take about 5,000 photographs a year, and I thought that I would edit from these, and try to come up with some images that might be appropriate and interesting to you. And I used three criteria: the first was, I thought I'd talk about real design within reach, design that's free, not design not quite within reach, as we're fondly known by our competition and competitors, but stuff that you can find on the streets, stuff that was free, stuff that was available to all people, and stuff that probably contains some other important messages.
網路上有我的傳記 說我是個設計傳教士。 那有點崇高,實際上 我更像是街頭漫步者 我花很多時間在城市裡 尋找設計元素 並研究公共場所的設計 我一年裡拍攝約5000多張照片 我想我可編輯一下這些照片 從中找些可能適合 而且感興趣的照片給大家看 我有三項標準 第一我想談的是 大家可以真正接觸到的設計 是免費的設計 是大家都可以接觸到的 不是我們的競爭者 天真地認為的那種設計 但你可在大街上找到的東西 免費的 所有人都能用的 可能包含一些重要訊息的東西
I'll use these sidewalks in Rio as an example. A very common public design done in the '50s. It's got a nice kind of flowing, organic form, very consistent with the Brazilian culture -- I think good design adds to culture. Wholly inconsistent with San Francisco or New York. But I think these are my sort of information highways: I live in much more of an analog world, where pedestrian traffic and interaction and diversity exchange, and where I think the simple things under our feet have a great amount of meaning to us.
給大家舉一個里約熱內盧人行道的例子 這是在50年代很普通的一個設計 它的流動性很好 形式很自然 與巴西的文化非常一致 我認為好的設計會豐富文化 完全與舊金山或紐約的風格不同 但我認為這些是我的資訊高速公路 我生活的世界更像是個模擬世界 行人走動 互動 多樣性交流 我認為我們腳下那些簡單的東西 其實是具有非常重要的意義
How did I get started in this business? I was a ceramic designer for about 10 years, and just loved utilitarian form -- simple things that we use every day, little compositions of color and surface on form. This led me to starting a company called Design Within Reach, a company dealing with simple forms, making good designers available to us, and also selling the personalities and character of the designers as well, and it seems to have worked. A couple of years into the process, I spent a lot of time in Europe traveling around, looking for design.
我是如何在這個行業上起步的呢? 我做了十年的陶瓷設計 很喜歡實用主義 我們每日使用簡單的物品 單純的顏色和簡潔的外表 這使我開了一家名為「觸手可及」的設計公司 公司處理簡單的形式 吸引好的設計師 並推銷設計師的個性和風格 這樣做效果還不錯 進入這個行業幾年後 我花很多的時間在歐洲四處旅遊 尋找設計
And I had a bit of a wake-up call in Amsterdam: I was there going into the design stores, and mixing with our crowd of designers, and I recognized that a whole lot of stuff pretty much looked the same, and the effect of globalization has had that in our community also. We know a lot about what's going on with design around the world, and it's getting increasingly more difficult to find design that reflects a unique culture. I was walking around on the streets of Amsterdam and I recognized, you know, the big story from Amsterdam isn't what's in the design stores, it's what's out on the streets, and maybe it's self-explanatory, but a city that hasn't been taken over by modernism, that's preserved its kind of architecture and character, and where the bicycle plays an important part of the way in which people get around and where pedestrian rights are protected. And I write a newsletter that goes out every week, and I wrote an article about this, and it got such enormous response that I realized that design, that common design, that's in the public area means a lot to people, and establishes kind of a groundwork and a dialog.
在阿姆斯特丹我彷佛猛然覺醒 我在那打算去些設計商店 加入到我們設計師群中 我發現許多東西 看起來幾乎是一樣的 全球化的影響 也已深入到我們設計界 我們知道全球設計的現況 但卻越來越難找到 反映出獨特文化的設計 我在阿姆斯特丹的街道上漫步 而我發現阿姆斯特丹的故事 並不是在設計商店裡 而是在街道上 或許它很明顯 但這座城市沒有被現代化所征服 它保留自己獨特的建築和風格 自行車是人們主要的外出方式 行人的權利 也受到保護 每週我都會出一期時事通訊 我在上面寫一篇關於這件事的文章 獲得廣大的迴響 我意識到這些公共場所的普通設計 對人們來說深具意義 建立某種基礎與對話
I then kind of thought about the other cities in Europe where I spend a lot of time looking for design, like Basel, where Vitra is located, or in northern Italy -- all cities where there are a whole lot of bicycles, and where pedestrian areas -- and I came to the conclusion that perhaps there was something about these important design centers that dealt with bicycles and foot traffic, and I'm sure the skeptic eye would say, no, the correlation there is that there are universities and schools where people can't afford cars, but it did seem that in many of these areas pedestrian traffic was protected. You wouldn't look at this and call this a designer bike: a designer bike is made of titanium or molybdenum. But I began looking at design in a place like Amsterdam and recognized, you know, the first job of design is to serve a social purpose. And so I look at this bike as not being a designer bike, but being a very good example of design.
然後我想起了歐洲的另外一些城市 我在那些地方尋找設計 例如巴塞爾 是Vitra所在的城市 或義大利北部 這些城市都有很多的自行車 和行人專區 我得到以下結論 可能 這些影響力較大的設計中心 處理自行車和步行交通相關的設計是必有其因 肯定有懷疑論者會說 不 那是因為大學和中小學裡人們 買不起車 但看起來很多這樣的地方 行人交通是受到保護的 你不會看看這個 就說是設計師設計的車吧 設計師自行車是由鈦和鉬製作的 但是我開始觀察像阿姆斯特丹這地方的設計 結果發現 設計的首要目的 是為社會服務 這輛車雖然不像是設計師自行車 但卻是非常好的一個設計的例子
And since that time in Amsterdam, I spent an increasing amount of time in the cities, looking at design for common evidence of design that really isn't under so much of a designer's signature. I was in Buenos Aires very recently, and I went to see this bridge by Santiago Calatrava. He's a Spanish architect and designer. And the tourist brochures pointed me in the direction of this bridge -- I love bridges, metaphorically and symbolically and structurally -- and it was a bit of a disappointment, because of the sludge from the river was encrusted on it; it really wasn't in use. And I recognized that oftentimes design, when you're set up to see design, it can be a bit of a letdown.
自從那次在阿姆斯特丹的經驗 我又用更多的時間 在城市裡尋找設計作品 來證明很多設計 是沒有設計者的鮮明特色 看看一些 最近我去布宜諾斯艾利斯 去參觀卡洛特拉瓦設計的橋 他是西班牙的建築家和設計師 旅行手冊指引我從這個方向看這座橋 我喜愛橋 喜歡它的寓意、象徵意義和它的結構 但我對這座橋有點失望 因為河裡的淤泥都結在上面 這橋並未使用 我意識到很多時候 當你刻意去看設計時 會有點失望
But there were lots of other things going on in this area: it was a kind of construction zone; a lot of buildings were going up. And, approaching a building from a distance, you don't see too much; you get a little closer, and you arrive at a nice little composition that might remind you of a Mondrian or a Diebenkorn or something. But to me it was an example of industrial materials with a little bit of colors and animation and a nice little still life -- kind of unintended piece of design. And going a little closer, you get a different perspective. I find these little vignettes, these little accidental pieces of design, to be refreshing. They give me, I don't know, a sense of correctness in the world and some visual delight in the knowledge that the building will probably never look as good as this simple industrial scaffolding that is there to serve.
但這個地方還有很多事情正在發生 這有點像個建築區 很多建築正在興建 從遠處看這個建築物 看不到多少東西 當你靠近看 你會發現它是一些不錯元素的結合 可能讓你想起蒙德里安的繪畫風格 或笛本卡爾或其他... 但對我而言 這是一個工業原料的例子 有一點點色彩 動畫 和可愛的小靜物 一種意想不到的設計 再靠近一點 你會有不同的觀點 我發現了這些小插曲 意外的小設計 讓我耳目一新 他們給予我 我也不知 一種正確的感覺 和一些視覺上的享受 這建築物以後可能還沒有 這簡單的鷹架好看 鷹架還有很多用處
Down the road, there was another building, a nice visual structure: horizontal, vertical elements, little decorative lines going across, these magenta squiggles, the workmen being reduced to decorative elements, just a nice, kind of, breakup of the urban place. And, you know, that no longer exists. You've captured it for a moment, and finding this little still life's like listening to little songs or something: it gives me an enormous amount of pleasure. Antoine Predock designed a wonderful ball stadium in San Diego called Petco Park. A terrific use of local materials, but inside you could find some interior compositions. Some people go to baseball stadiums to look at games; I go and see design relationships. Just a wonderful kind of breakup of architecture, and the way that the trees form vertical elements.
沿著路走下去 有另外一棟建築 很棒的視覺性結構 水平的 垂直的元素 小的裝飾線橫跨 這些紫紅色的 彎彎曲曲的線條 工人們也成為這些裝飾性的元素 有一種不錯 看起來破碎的 城市的角落 你知道 它不再存在 你在一瞬間捕捉了它 發現這個靜態 就像聽著小曲之類的 它讓我無比快樂 皮達克在聖地亞哥 設計一個非常好的球場 叫Petco球場 充分利用當地的建材 但在球場內部你會發現一些構成元素 有人去球場看球賽 而我去看設計之間的關係 這建築優美的分隔 是用這些樹形成垂直的元素
Red is a color in the landscape that is often on stop signs. It takes your attention; it has a great amount of emotion; it stares back at you the way that a figure might. Just a piece of barrier tape construction stuff in Italy. Construction site in New York: red having this kind of emotional power that's almost an equivalent with the way in which -- cuteness of puppies and such. Side street in Italy. Red drew me into this little composition, optimistic to me in the sense that maybe the public service's mailbox, door service, plumbing. It looks as if these different public services work together to create some nice little compositions. In Italy, you know, almost everything, kind of, looks good. Simple menus put on a board, achieving, kind of, the sort of balance. But I'm convinced that it's because you're walking around the streets and seeing things. Red can be comical: it can draw your attention to the poor little personality of the little fire hydrant suffering from bad civic planning in Havana. Color can animate simple blocks, simple materials: walking in New York, I'll stop.
紅色通常是在 停止標誌上 它能吸引你的注意力 給人們強烈的情感 它就像個人那樣盯著你 這是在義大利看到的一個施工柵欄帶 紐約的施工現場 紅色有情感上的影響力 這幾乎是可以媲美 小狗的可愛 義大利的小巷中 紅色吸引我看到這些小的物品 讓我樂觀的感受到 也許公共服務的信箱 上門服務 水管 看起來好像不同的公共服務 一起創造了美好的組合 在義大利 你知道的 每樣物品看起來都不錯 貼在木板上的簡單菜單 達到一種排序的平衡 我相信 是因為 你在大街上會邊走邊看 紅色是滑稽的 它能吸引你的注意力 讓你看到可憐的小消防栓 正在遭受哈瓦那市政規劃的摧殘 顏色能讓簡單的街區 和材料變得有朝氣 在紐約行走 有時我會停下來
I don't always know why I take photographs of things. A nice visual composition of symmetry. Curves against sharp things. It's a comment on the way in which we deal with public seating in the city of New York. I've come across some other just, kind of, curious relationships of bollards on the street that have different interpretations, but -- these things amuse me. Sometimes a trash can -- this is just in the street in San Francisco -- a trash can that's been left there for 18 months creates a nice 45-degree angle against these other relationships, and turns a common parking spot into a nice little piece of sculpture. So, there's this sort of silent hand of design at work that I see in places that I go.
我不知道為什麼會拍物品的照片 好看的視覺對稱組合 圓弧和尖銳的對比 這是一個我們處理 紐約市公共座椅時 所看到的評論 我無意中發現了 另外一些有點奇特的關係 這是大街上的護柱 它們之間的關係有很多種解釋 這些東西逗人發笑 有時一個垃圾桶 這是在舊金山的街道上 一個留在那有18個月之久的垃圾桶 它構成一個45度的角 和其他物品之間 把一個很普通的停車位 變成一小塊好看的藝術品 這是一些無聲的手 從事的設計工作 都是我在去過的地方所看到的
Havana is a wonderful area. It's quite free of commercial clutter: you don't see our logos and brands and names, and therefore you're alert to things physically. And this is a great protection of a pedestrian zone, and the repurposing of some colonial cannons to do that. And Cuba needs to be far more resourceful, because of the blockades and things, but a really wonderful playground.
哈瓦那是一個非常好的地區 它是一個遠離商業紛爭的地方 你看不到商品的商標 品牌和名字 因此你必須自己切身體驗所有的東西 這個東西對步行區有很好的保護作用 這是殖民地大砲再利用的好地方 古巴由於封鎖 所以需要有更多的資源 但它確實是一個樂園
I've often wondered why Italy is really a leader in modern design. In our area, in furnishings, they're sort of way at the top. The Dutch are good also, but the Italians are good. And I came across this little street in Venice, where the communist headquarters were sharing a wall with this Catholic shrine. And I realized that, you know, Italy is a place where they can accept these different ideologies and deal with diversity and not have the problem, or they can choose to ignore them, but these -- you don't have warring factions, and I think that maybe the tolerance of the absurdity which has made Italy so innovative and so tolerant. The past and the present work quite well together in Italy also, and I think that it's recognizable there, and has an important effect on culture, because their public spaces are protected, their sidewalks are protected, and you're actually able to confront these things physically, and I think this helps people get over their fear of modernism and other such things.
我經常想為何義大利會引領現代的設計潮流 在我們這個行業 家具業 義大利可以說是首屈一指 荷蘭的也很好 但沒有義大利的好 我在威尼斯偶然經過了這個小巷 發現共產黨的總部 和天主教的神殿 竟然共用一面牆 我意識到 義大利人 能夠接受這些不同的意識形態 他們可以自然地處理這種多元性 或選擇忽略它們 但這些 你沒有敵對的派別 我想也許就是對這些荒誕事情的容忍 使得義大利如此富於創新性 和包容性 義大利過去和現在的作品融合得也很好 我認為設計在那裡是公認的 並對文化有重要影響的原因是 他們的公共場所都受到了保護 他們的人行道也受到了保護 實際上 你可以切身體會這些東西 實體上 我認為這使得人們 能戰勝對現代化的恐懼感
A change might be a typical street corner in San Francisco. And I use this -- this is, sort of, what I consider to be urban spam. I notice this stuff because I walk a lot, but here, private industry is really kind of making a mess of the public sector. And as I look at it, I sort of say, you know, the publications that report on problems in the urban area also contribute to it, and it's just my call to say to all of us, public policy won't change this at all; private industry has to work to take things like this seriously.
舊金山典型的街角與義大利完全不同 我用這種圖片向大家說明 這個 有點 是我認為的城市形象垃圾 因為我經常步行所以會注意到這些 但在這裡 民間產業某種程度上 確實讓公共場所變得一團糟 當我觀察它時 我必須說 報導城市問題的那些出版品 其實 也造成城市的問題 我在此呼籲大家 公共政策根本不能改變這一點 民間產業必須認真對待這類問題
The extreme might be in Italy where, again, there's kind of some type of control over what's happening in the environment is very evident, even in the way that they sell and distribute periodicals. I walk to work every day or ride my scooter, and I come down and park in this little spot. And I came down one day, and all the bikes were red. Now, this is not going to impress you guys who Photoshop, and can do stuff, but this was an actual moment when I got off my bike, and I looked and I thought, it's as if all of my biker brethren had kind of gotten together and conspired to make a little statement. And it reminded me that -- to keep in the present, to look out for these kinds of things.
另一種極端情況又出現在義大利 有一種控制 這對環境上的影響非常明顯 這點從他們出售和分發期刊的方式就可看出來 我每天都是步行或騎我的小摩托車去上班 在這個小停車位停車 有一天我過去的時候 所有的摩托車都是紅色的 這不是用photoshop做出來的 這是當我下車時的 真實景象 我觀察且思考 好像我們這些騎士兄弟 一起想好了串聯 共同發表一份聲明 它提醒我 要活在當下 要留意這類事物
It gave me possibilities for wonder -- if maybe it's a yellow day in San Francisco, and we could all agree, and create some installations. But it also reminded me of the power of pattern and repetition to make an effect in our mind. And I don't know if there's a stronger kind of effect than pattern and the way it unites kind of disparate elements. I was at the art show in Miami in December, and spent a couple of hours looking at fine art, and amazed at the prices of art and how expensive it is, but having a great time looking at it. And I came outside, and the valets for this car service had created, you know, quite a nice little collage of these car keys, and my closest equivalent were a group of prayer tags that I had seen in Tokyo. And I thought that if pattern can unite these disparate elements, it can do just about anything.
它給我好奇的可能性 如果哪天舊金山天空泛黃 我們可能都同意 可以創造一些裝置 它也提醒我 形式和重複的力量 對我們心智的影響 但我不知道是否還有其他東西 比式樣把不同元素結合起來的方式 更讓人印象深刻 十二月的時候我在邁阿密的藝術展上 花很長時間欣賞展出的藝術品 我對那些藝術品的價格非常驚訝 它們實在是太貴了 不過我欣賞它們時心情很愉快 我出來時發現代客停車的服務員 做出了挺好看的一張拼貼畫 就用這些車鑰匙 我發現和它最像的一個作品是 我在東京見到的祈禱籤 我想如果 圖案能把這些獨立的元素結合起來 它就可以做任何事情
I don't have very many shots of people, because they kind of get in the way of studying pure form. I was in a small restaurant in Spain, having lunch -- one of those nice days where you had the place kind of to yourself, and you have a glass of wine, and enjoying the local area and the culture and the food and the quiet, and feeling very lucky, and a bus load of tourists arrived, emptied out, filled up the restaurant. In a very short period of time, completely changed the atmosphere and character with loud voices and large bodies and such, and we had to get up and leave; it was just that uncomfortable. And at that moment, the sun came out, and through this perforated screen, a pattern was cast over these bodies and they kind of faded into the rear, and we left the restaurant kind of feeling O.K. about stuff.
我不常拍人物照 因為會阻礙我研究純粹的形式 那時我在西班牙的一間小酒店裡 吃午餐 天氣不錯 你覺得這地方就是專門為你準備的 你在喝著紅酒 欣賞著當地的風景 文化以及食物 環境很安靜 你感覺很幸運 突然一輛旅遊巴士到達 大家一擁而上 填滿這家酒店 在很短的時間內 完全改變那裡的氣氛 他們說話聲音實在太大 人也長得很壯 我們只好站起來離開 很不舒服 在那一刻 太陽出來 通過這些有洞的屏帳 把帶孔的圖案投到了那些人的身上 他們漸漸地消失在後方 我們離開餐館時 因此而感到不錯
And I do think pattern has the capability of eradicating some of the most evil forces of society, such as bad form in restaurants, but quite seriously, it was a statement to me that one thing that you do, sort of, see is the aggressive nature of the industrial world has produced -- kind of, large masses of things, and when you -- in monoculture, and I think the preservation of diversity in culture is something that's important to us.
我認為圖案 能根除社會上一些 一些最邪惡的 社會勢力 例如在餐廳裡的不好例子 但認真說來 對我而言它是種表述 這是一種 侵略的性質 工業社會所產生的 一種 巨大的混亂 當你 在單一文化中 保留文化多元性 對我們而言是很重要的
The last shots that I have deal with -- coming back to this theme of sidewalks, and I wanted to say something here about -- I'm, kind of, optimistic, you know. Post-Second World War, the influence of the automobile has really been devastating in a lot of our cities. A lot of urban areas have been converted into parking lots in a sort of indiscriminate use. A lot of the planning departments became subordinated to the transportation department. It's as easy to rag on cars as it is on Wal-Mart; I'm not going to do that. But they're real examples in urbanization and the change that's occurred in the last number of years, and the heightened sensitivity to the importance of our urban environments as cultural centers. I think that they are, that the statements that we make in this public sector are our contributions to a larger whole.
我向大家說明的最後幾張照片 回到人行道的主題 我想 在這裡說幾句話 我這個人有點樂觀 二次大戰之後 汽車的影響 在我們城市裡確實具有破壞性 很多城市地區被改造成停車場 被濫用 很多計劃部門變成 交通部門的附屬 諷刺汽車 就如同諷刺沃爾瑪一樣容易 但我不打算這樣做 但它們是都市化真實的案例 和過去幾年裡發生的變化 高度敏感的重要性 對於我們都市環境成為文化中心的重要性 我認為 我們所做的宣言 在這個公眾場合 是我們對大眾 所做的貢獻
Cities are the place where we're most likely to encounter diversity and to mix with other people. We go there for stimulation in art and all those other things. But I think people have recognized the sanctity of our urban areas. A place like Chicago has really reached kind of a level of international stature. The U.S. is actually becoming a bit of a leader in kind of enlightened urban planning and renewal, and I want to single out a place like Chicago, where I look at some guy like Mayor Daley as a bit of a design hero for being able to work through the political processes and all that to improve an area. You would expect a city like this to have upgraded flower boxes on Michigan Avenue where wealthy people shop, but if you actually go along the street you find the flower boxes change from street to street: there's actual diversity in the plants. And the idea that a city group can maintain different types of foliage is really quite exceptional.
城市是我們最有可能 接觸多樣性 並與他人交流的地方 我們去那裡尋找藝術上的刺激和其他 我想人們已經意識到 我們都會區的神聖 像芝加哥這樣的城市 已屬國際知名都市 美國可以說是先驅 在城市的規劃和重建方面 我想在此讚揚芝加哥 戴利市長可以說是個設計英雄 他通過政治上的重重阻礙 改善芝加哥 你可能以為芝加哥這樣的城市 高檔的花箱 只有在富人購物的密西根大道上才有 但若你沿著街道走 會發現每條街的花箱都不同 植物也有多樣性 一個城市維持照顧 不同種類植物 確實很特別
There are common elements of this that you'll see throughout Chicago, and then there are your big-D design statements: the Pritzker Pavilion done by Frank Gehry. My measure of this as being an important bit of design is not so much the way that it looks, but the fact that it performs a very important social function. There are a lot of free concerts, for example, that go on in this area; it has a phenomenal acoustic system. But the commitment that the city has made to the public area is significant, and almost an international model. I work on the mayor's council in San Francisco, on the International Design Council for Mayors, and Chicago is looked at as the pinnacle, and I really would like to salute Mayor Daley and the folks there. I thought that I should include at least one shot of technology for you guys. This is also in Millennium Park in Chicago, where the Spanish artist-designer Plensa has created, kind of, a digital readout in this park that reflects back the characters and personalities of the people in this area. And it's a welcoming area, I think, inclusive of diversity, reflective of diversity, and I think this marriage of both technology and art in the public sector is an area where the U.S. can really take a leadership role, and Chicago is one example.
若你看遍芝加哥 你會發現很多共通的元素 這是被人們稱為big-D的設計聲明 是法蘭克.蓋瑞設計的普利茲克露天音樂廳 我認為這個設計之所以重要 並不是因為它的外表 而是因為它在社會上所引起的重要作用 例如這裡有很多免費的音樂會 在這個區塊 它有出色的音響系統 但這個城市為大眾提供服務的承諾 意義重大 可說是國際典範 我參與舊金山的市長顧問委員會的工作 主要是關於國際化的設計 芝加哥在這個方面是翹楚 我在此向戴利市長與市民致意 我想我至少該給大家看一張 科技元素的照片 這也是芝加哥千禧公園裡的一景 西班牙的藝術家普連薩設計的 有點像一種 數位讀出裝置 它反照出 這一地區人們的 性格和特點 這是入口歡迎處 我想 包含了多樣性 多樣性的反映 我認為 在公共場域 把科技和藝術結合起來 美國在這一點還是領先其他國家 芝加哥就是一個例子
Thank you very much.
謝謝大家