Designers
Little attention was paid during the 1980s to aesthetics in computer hardware design - devices were generally beige metal boxes with no frills. Because d2's original target market was Apple Macintosh users, the end users tended to work in creative, artistic professions - designers, printers, digital video etc. Tailoring its product more carefully to the tastes of these "content creators" was one of the keys to the success of d2/LaCie, and they did this by offering "designer drives".
Prior to the électronique d2 buyout in 1995, Ziba Design, in Portland Oregon, designed the majority of LaCie's products, including the award winning Joule tower, the Cirrus and the Tsunami drive. By 1995 LaCie had won awards for industrial design for every external storage product they introduced.
In Paris, France, électronique d2 began to make a name for itself as early as 1991 by hiring designers like Philippe Starck and Neil Poulton. The emphasis was on ergonomics, distinctive moulding and some radically different designs.
The French designer Philippe Starck designed three products for the company: 'K1', "Apollo" and "Tokyo". These three "toaster" drives were manufactured in gravity-cast, hand polished aluminium and gained their nickname because of a passing resemblance to 1950s chrome toasters. Neil Poulton and Christophe Pillet, then Starck employees and both future LaCie designers, ran the projects. A fourth Starck-designed product was completed to model stage in 1992 but was never manufactured.
Industrial designer Neil Poulton has the longest running history with électronique d2/LaCie. From 1991 onwards, Scottish-born Poulton designed numerous products for d2, including the "Shark' and "FM Tuner' and the award-winning, phallic "le Coq" hard drive. Poulton also designed d2's graphics, literature, packaging, trade fair booths, and the two électronique d2 logos. When d2 bought out LaCie in 1995, Poulton was brought in to design the current LaCie logo and the company's corporate identity.
Poulton is responsible for the design of the best-selling "d2" range, the "Pocketdrive" range, the "Rugged" drive, the "Little Big Disk' and numerous professional and "unsigned" d2/LaCie products dating back to 1991. His funnel-inspired "Firewire Speakers" won the French "Janus de l'Industrie' award in 2007.
Christophe Pillet, better known for his high-end furniture, designed products for d2 /LaCie from 1994-96 after quitting Philippe Starck's office.
In 2003, Philippe Spruch commissioned an agency to identify the world's "best known" design studio. He then hired the world-famous Porsche Design company to design a product range which would become best-sellers for LaCie between 2003-6.
A spate of colorful products released in 2006 included Karim Rashid's "shocking" dayglo products and the popular Brick drive designed by Frenchman Ora-Ito. Never far from controversy, Ito's award winning USB Hub of 2007 had to be renamed to avoid infringement with the original name.
In 2007, the French national museum, Centre Georges Pompidou, in Paris acquired LaCie products for its permanent collection including Poulton's "le Coq", "d2"," LBD", "Firewire Speakers", "Pocketdrive" and "Rugged", Ito's "Brick" and "USB Hub", and two Porsche Design drives.
Poulton and Ito continue to work as designers for LaCie.
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Famous quotes containing the word designers:
“The designers [of the 1930s] were populists, you see; they were trying to give the public what it wanted. What the public wanted was the future.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)
““Where do architects and designers get their ideas?” The answer, of course, is mainly from other architects and designers, so is it mere casuistry to distinguish between tradition and plagiarism?”
—Stephen Bayley (b. 1951)