provocation or useless?

A few days ago I was discussing with some friends about some objects, present in our houses, that are absolutely useless, and an interesting question came to my mind: which are the worst design pieces in history?

Probably going back to the dawning of uselessness is an excessive target, but finding some interesting objects is definitely amusing!

The starting point to sort out this doubt is to understand what the primary function  of an object is, or better what it's supposed to be; a chair has to allow you to sit, a shoe to protect your foot, cutlery to bring food to your mouth, and so on.

Of course, as for each element linked to the universe of art , many objects start from provocation;  Oliviero Toscani says “Today design isn't anylonger  the harmony of all functions, but a fashion phenomenon that stands between the sales promotion, marketing  and futility”.

Truth or  provocation?

No doubt the objects chosen for Joe Velluto's exhibition are very provocative. “Useless is more” chair:

But can you say the same of other objects? Provocation or blunder?
“This will be judged by posterity!”


Let's start from “Loope Lupita”: more than a chair it's a deckchair but your back  remains as bent as a night crawler's: perfect design, but I have my doubts about its comfort!

Stefan Zwicky in 1980 realized an  armchair as a tribute to the mythic Petite chair by Le Corbusier,  you could say,  durable, but not very soft as a chair.

The “ Stick Chair” by  Carlo Volf  is a real acrobatism experiment! Try to sit and see!!!

Working on the concept of sticks Mauricio Alfonso  elaborated a table that conceptually is wonderfully  transformable, but as a table it  definitely isn't very useful to lean anything on; anyway you can acknowledge  his fantasy!

Still on the theme of  tables, I'd like to see you dine on this not very comfortable  table!
Better not to use plates!

Kitchen remains anyway the reign of design-excess.
You can help the laziest , for example with the “selfrotating” ice cream cone or with an automatic wine dispenser:

For the most careful you can think of squaring nature; have you ever thought of  square eggs?
What a pity! Because today you can! Very useful this egg “squarer”!

For the kitchen and beyond! Pic-nic baskets are outdated, now you envelop fruit by fruit and here's a fantastic banana case!

http://www.bananaguard.com/

Coordinated style is everything, but I'm afraid hairy bowls are too much even for  the least intransigent  designer!

But the maximum of excess is expressed in  fashion design, in this case, shoes.
Question: what are shoes for?

To keep your feet warm and/or separated from the ground.. are you sure?
Because it isn't always so:

I don't agree with Oliviero Toscani, but more with the  definition studied by one of the greatest designers, Achille Castiglioni: “....It's hard to give a precise definition of industrial designer, but I think it's clear what I mean by industrial designer: someone who works in a team and designs and realizes real objects for real needs.”

.. and that's it, even if sometimes  the situation slips through their fingers!

Stay tuned