ABSTRACT

Gayle Hamilton’s apposite description encapsulates the fatal allure of apparently neutral products and the effect that they can have on the user. The formula devised by frog design (Sweet 1999) that ‘form follows emotion’ acknowledges that product design should always include something extra: '….no matter how elegant and functional a design, it will not win a place in our lives unless it can appeal at a deeper level, to our emotions….the emotional element can be present in any number of ways: it may appeal to our desire for enhanced nostalgia….or it might be a tactile ergonomic experience….or it could be reinventing the familiar’. Dandavate et al (1996) observe that ‘the emotional link might be as important or be even more important than usability because it creates satisfaction and awareness of the product and brand, and which prompts users to be loyal to that brand’. Investigating the connection between design and sensuality, Bayley (1986) observes that ‘design is about closing the loop between desire and fulfilment that’s why it’s like sex’. There are, perhaps, less tangible reasons why (particularly) Italian objects inspire such devotion in their aficionados. Holman (1986) argues that sometimes products can become objects of the emotions of consumers. This kind of situation is called the aficionado effect, observed among collectors….or those who become enchanted with technological aspects of products such as stereos, cars and computers. I want to explore the emotive qualities of objects in the interstices between design and the fine arts, using Italian design in the period after World War Two when designers such as Mollino, Pininfarina and Giugiaro brought design closer to sculpture than some mere prosaic sheet metal box or functional table ever could.