Is Clutter the New Minimalism - Artistic iPod Island Hub (GALLERY)

As an act of defiance and rebelliousness against the current trend towards minimalistic high tech gadgets, designers Ingo Strobel and Katja Hiendlmayer have come up with this ironic one-off iPod Island Hub art installation. The minimalism trend is best exemplified by Apple and its products, so it was natural to choose its iconic player as the center of the piece.

The iPod Island Hub is a “frozen spot of stainless Super Mirror steel on your apartment floor” which hosts an Apple iPod Nano and a JBL sound station. The face of the hub features the quote, “The music was new black polished chrome and it came over the summer like liquid night,” from Turkish Bazaar, a song by Emmanuel Tops, that loops on the integrated iPod.

I like the statement behind the design, but I find it very impractical in real life. I would surely step into the “island” and break the whole thing. If you do want to own this unique artsy piece, you need alot of cash. In March 30th, 2008 it had an auction estimate of between $3000-$5000. Yup, how ironic indeed! That money would buy me enough iPods to build my own island.

Check out another design that goes against the “smaller is better” trend:

Tech Going Against the Trend - Gradient Helsinki 1.5 Loudspeaker (GALLERY)

(TREND HUNTER) With the current trend of making gadgets smaller and lighter, Finnish company Gradient goes in the opposite direction with their new Gradient Helsinki 1.5 loudspeaker. A 92 cm 23 kg speaker, yes 23 kilos I say! They describe it as “A loudspeaker concept born from our twisted way of thinking differen… [More]