Comments on: Nipponia unveiled

By: Eric Almendral

Eric Almendral — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 22:22:34 +0000

Professor Matthew,
That sketch owes more than a little to Steve Martin’s “Cruel Shoes” (1979).
http://snurl.com/58oic

I love design and will even inconvenience myself (“suffer” is a bit much) for good design, art or fashion. I’m less tolerant of bad design—like this.

By: Professor Matthew

Professor Matthew — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:33:40 +0000

Eric, obviously fashion is more important than comfort. Are you not willing to suffer for art?

You’re the kind of person who dismissed such forward thinking designs as box full of glass and spike in the head.

http://www.kithfan.org/work/transcripts/one/uglyfashion.html

By: Eric Almendral

Eric Almendral — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:35:24 +0000

The production models are actually pretty lousy designs, once you get past the legshields. Footboard too small for human feet. Tiny topcase you couldn’t fit a kid’s helmet in. Maybe the designer should have consulted with some scooterists at some point?

http://www.cyberscooter.it/speciali/eicma08/nipponia/nipponia.htm

By: Eric Almendral

Eric Almendral — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:12:35 +0000

I’m unimpressed by the three models they showed (a little different, some interesting details, but nothing exciting), but the Renzo prototype is pretty interesting. Not the sort of thing I’d buy, but it at least indicates someone’s rethinking conventional designs, for better or worse…