“I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.”
– Blaise Pascal in Provincial Letters: Letter XVI
During this year’s Milan Furniture Fair, I got to meet Virtual Tom, aka designer Tom Dixon’s 3D twin.
Today at Dassault Systèmes’ swYm conference (formally called Devcon), I got to meet the real person.
While there are a few memorable geeky nuggets I’d like to dig down on in later posts, I’d like serve up a dosage of Tom-chat. Sitting outside on the ivy-lined steps of DS Campus, Tom shared his thoughts on 3D and design, plus a glimmer of what he’d like to do for next year’s Milan fair.
“I like opposites, so juxtaposing what’s happening in 3D and online with something real is interesting.” Tom
Tom’s goal is to make things simple, and “just because you can do lots of complex things with technology and design doesn’t mean that you should.”
This reminded me of Oblong’s “you are the interface” and the ultimate goals to technology. We shouldn’t feel the complexity in what’s happening with our 3D, VR or other techno; we should just be enjoying the experience without having to think about the how-to. Much like we enjoy exquisite French meals. If you get heady about it, the magic dies. And if you get too complex in your recipes and presentation, you lose your Michelin star.
But this is harder to accomplish than you may think. You see this movement in the PLM space as Kurt Chen pointed out. Users want simple interfaces and powerful results. But I’m digressing.
Tom.
One of the projects you may see developing from our partnership with Tom Dixon is a design contest for SolidWorks users whereby the winning design would be fabricated live at next year’s Milan Furniture Fair. Tom, I’m rooting for you on this one, and BTW, if my boss is reading this, how about a ticket to Milan for some live blogging? 😉
If you happen to be at swYm, like Tom you may enjoy playing with the “toys” as he called them available on our partner stands. Think haptic VR. Tom’s thinking about it in a design context.
Off to some afternoon sessions. If you’re around, please ping me so I can say hi live. Otherwise, anything particular you’d like me to cover during the conference?
Best,
Kate
