This was the Future, Vol.12

typed for your pleasure on 3 June 2005, at 4.49 pm

Sdtrk: ‘The drowning man’ by the Cure

Another ABS-moulded spotlight on another ace designer; this time it’s Italian-born Joe Colombo.


his ‘Habitat of the Future’ for Visiona 69

Joe Colombo’s future was an anti-nostalgic future (he would not have recognised as “future” the ‘90s in which we live today), in which an intelligent technology would have helped every human activity, laying the foundations for completely new living models. At the time, Joe Colombo designed entire living cells.
quoted from this site

He’s one of my favourites, as he was all about the Modular Living. With regards to his design for appliances, furniture, and living areas, he constructed spaces and things that could be well used and conveniently stored. Where’s the saucepan? Where’s the crockery? Ahhh, it’s all nestled within each other in the Mini-kitchen’s crockery drawer. A Colombo design meant that it promoted more efficient living, yet it was fun at the same time. This is a man who engineered a small glass that could be held with your thumb, while you hang onto your cigarette with the fingers of that same hand. (He loved smoking.) That’s called Getting More Use Out Of A Single Hand!

And no, I’ve no idea what that giant white sphere in the picture is for exactly. In all the articles in print or online that I’ve read that cover the Visiona 69 environment, not a single one indicates what that sphere’s for. Perhaps it contains pure, unfiltered Sixties! I dunno

Random similar posts, for more timewasting:

This was the Future, Vol.17 on October 18th, 2005

This was the Future, Vol.32 on January 1st, 2007

Posted in This was the Future | 3 comments »


Outside again, enthralled by disco lighting

typed for your pleasure on 3 June 2005, at 3.06 am

Sdtrk: ‘Sheila take a bow’ by the Smiths

I have to apologise, after my own fashion, for the lack of recent updates with ‘Shouting etc etc’. Throughout various stages of my life, I’ve always kept journals/diaries, but instead of writing something practically every day, I’ve always been one of those people who doesn’t really bash out a post unless I deem it worthy of public consumption. (Which, all told, should eliminate 90% of the content of this blog.) Also, I’m lazy.
So there’s your apology! If this were a pay site, I’m certain people would be demanding refunds at this point. C’est la guerre!

Wolfgang und Mike und Via Kali und I went on another urban photo safari Thurs morn, which was enjoyable as usual. I was more loath to go outside than normal, as the weather was supposed to be in the low eighties today, but there was virtually no humidity, and it was nice ‘n’ breezy, so it wasn’t too bad. This time round, we visited the Nicolet Townhouses, designed by the man who could do no wrong, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. After that, we hit Eastern market, which I haven’t been to since the Reagan administration. Upon visiting an antique store, Via Kali bought some sort of African musical gourd thing (which may or may not have been cursed — you know that sort of thing goes. Never purchase other-cultural items from secondhand stores. We all saw ‘Gremlins’), and my eye was caught by two things in particular that I naturally can’t afford:

On the left, a Vespa Allstate (I believe they dated it at 1958), $3500. On the right, a Soundesign AM/FM 3-speed turntable with eight-track player, and flashing perspex disco lights in the base, $250. The scooter is negligible — yes, it’s a Vespa, but it’s not grey, silver, black or white, plus I prefer the Sixties models — but I’ve gotta have that feckin’ hi-fi. Who do I have to kill to get that hi-fi??
Ahh, who am I kidding. It’s fab, but it’s no Rosita Stereo commander Luxus. There are other sexy hi-fis out there to be drooled over..

After a luncheon at a pizzeria in Eastern market, we took some pics of 20th century ruins. Such as this one, for example.

That path you see is where train tracks used to be. We don’t know what the building’s former use was, but we believe its two current functions are attracting graffiti artists, and swallowing souls.
Once again, I’m sure the Good People at RoToRs will hasten to put up more photos soon. Well, at the very least, ones different from mine

Random similar posts, for more timewasting:

On mowing grass on May 23rd, 2006

the Weekly Recommendation 03: Neckties on October 8th, 2004

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