Fathers of Design - Celebrating Influential Designers

In honor of all the incredible Fathers we are celebrating this Fathers Day, the team at Bend wanted to share our honorable list of men that have had the biggest influence on us and our creative flow. Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you our Fathers of Design!

While there are tons of designers we can mention and praise, we kept the list short.  Four designers whose approach and technique inspire our world today.

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Joe Cesare Colombo – Up until 1958, Italian industrial designer Cesare Colombo studied and worked as a painter until he decided to abandon this path and concentrate on industrial design in 1962, stating that ‘good domestic design had to be available to everyone.’ Colombo’s work ethic and attitude towards working on things that make you happy resonate with the team at Bend Goods.  

Colombo’s bold and unique shapes helped define some of his most famous designs like the interesting, funky Tube Chair or the bold and bright, red Boby 3 Portable Storage System. Our founder and designer at Bend, Gaurav Nanda, also works on creating that perfect shape. For example, the Peacock Lounge Chair frame has some similarities to the shapes Colombo has created

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Ignazia Favata, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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I, Sailko, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

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Mikhail Fludkov, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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Dieter Rams – Rams is a German industrial designer known for his affiliations with the consumer products company Braun. His belief in “less, but better”  is what speaks to us on a more personal and inspirational level. Here at Bend, we love looking at how he has taken some basic geometric rectangles and created a beautiful stereo by adjusting the spacing and placements of knobs, holes and bezels, creating a visual symphony.
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His approach to “good design is as little as possible” is what we strive for. It’s easier said than done, and sometimes difficult to capture. Dieter shows us that taking your time and understanding what problem you are trying to solve with design can result in something simple yet incredible.

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Vitsoe at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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Phrontis, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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PeterAjtony, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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John Lautner – Lautner is one of the most important and influential architects of the twentieth century. He has designed and sculpted some of America’s most beautiful buildings to this day, including but not limited to the Sheats-Goldstein residence. (where Bend Goods pieces are now featured btw. Shameless Plug, we know, we know... Read the blog here ).

His approach to architecture embodies everything that we, at Bend Goods, strive to be. Making the impossible happen. We love the idea of “ Organic Architecture “ and believe it applies not only to beautiful buildings, but for furniture design as well. How a design makes you feel and how it exists in a home or restaurant really guides us in the design process.

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evdropkick, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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Arch.james, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

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Elon Musk - When you understand the work Musk is doing, you will realize that he is arguably the greatest design engineer of our time, leading the world with electric vehicles that require no maintenance, eliminating toxic emissions, which are affecting the environment. Our founder Gaurav Nanda worked as a sculptor in automotive design before starting Bend so he understands what a challenge it must have been to reinvent an industry with Tesla.
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Last week, Elon showed off a new carbon-wrapped electric motor which allows for smaller, more powerful, and more efficient vehicles. At Bend we are not designing anything that is close to being that advanced but we really appreciate and are inspired by what Elon Musk is doing for the world.

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Heisenberg Media, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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Maurizio Pesce from Milan, Italia, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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