Came to the library next to our studios today for one last sessions sans students. It is perfectly calm in here. Being a Sunday afternoon does help, but come term time, this place goes from annoyingly noisy to untolerably rank right around exams. Someday they'll invent a remote control for librarians to mute morons.

I just realized that the library bought the Phaidon three volume design compendium; the one that comes in a strange black crate thing. It's full of great design drawings of some of the most famous objects ever made.

Here's one of Raymond Loewy's lesser known designs: a pencil sharpener that never made it past the prototype stage.




According to the accompanying text, it did not represent any kind of technical inovation, "the planetary cylinders, which create the cutting motion, had been employed in mechanical pencil sharpeners since 1915." It was more the streamlined look that set it apart from less, er, aerodynamic desktop models.

I find it interesting that Loewy's drawing uses such elaborate calligraphy. Apparantly he trained as an engineer in Paris, maybe that had some effect?

There is a funny connection of this object to another that I've recently come accross. The term "planetary" in relation to a geared mechanism. See, I just bought a bicycle and it has a 7 speed internal, "planetary" geared hub. Here is a cool technical drawing of it that I found on the web.

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