‘Form Follows Function’ vs. Whimsy: The LaCie-Christofle Sphere is a Hard Drive Without the Hard Edges
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“Form Follows Function” is how you design a wrench, or a toboggan, or a kitchen mixer. But as we move into this increasingly dematerialized era, the keyboard and mouse are the only parts of our computers that seem to hew to this rule. For a little while the cables we used to plug into our computers at least had little plastic ridges on them, the barest concession that human fingers were meant to grasp them, but now even that’s been replaced by designer whimsy; in 2011, for instance, Parisian luxury brand Christofle designed this silver-plated USB key for LaCie that seemed like something out of a jewelry box.
The Christofle-LaCie team-up is at it again, this time with a hard drive seemingly designed by a gypsy (or Jeff Koons). The USB 3.0 Christofle Sphere is a one-terabyte number intended to sit on your desk and look purty, “hand-crafted and silvered in France” as it is.
Then again, maybe the reflective form does have a function, one more in step with our modern times: It’ll let you take a selfie at your desk without having to stretch your arm out and aim.
De rigueur, classic-instrument-scored “the majesty of craft” video after the jump.
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