Design Inspiration

David Mellor, a thoroughly British designer known chiefly for his cutlery, has died a few days ago.

I like this from his obituary in the Guardian:

Mellor was no mere knife and fork stylist; he understood the behaviour of metals and the physics of tools.

He was in every sense a modern industrial designer, and technologically adept, but his spiritual roots were in the arts and crafts movement and its belief, not so much in work-life balance as in work-life integration. To him, the profession of design "is concerned not just with making objects ... but just as importantly with making choices, with choosing what we use, choosing how to live". There is a special significance in the environments Mellor made for himself, his colleagues and his family (although boundaries were fluid, since life and art and work were inseparable).


When I lived in London and and would hang out in Chelsea, on exiting the Sloane Square tube station: First thing - make a bee-line to David Mellor's shop (take a right, then another right, cross the street) before I did anything else. I have a few sets of the Paris design (shown on the right). Recommended: the company website, a celebration of exquisite craftmanship, is a fine presentation indeed.